Delivering the goods: Challenges for ACP-EU relations in 2007

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    This InBrief seeks to identify some of the headline debates that can be expected in 2007 and to sketch the backdrop against which these will unfold. The aim is not so much to predict outcomes, but to situate and frame the EU debates on development cooperation so as to enable as wide a group of stakeholders as possible to follow and participate in them.

    ‘2005 was a year of powerful gestures. 2006 will have to be the year of practical implementation.’

    This quote from the European Parliament’s Development Committee’s report on aid effectiveness1 accurately reflects the sentiments of many stakeholders in the European development sector this past year. After the grand promises of the European Consensus on Development2 and the EU- Africa Strategy3 published in late 2005 in particular, expectations are raised and the EU must now deliver the goods. However, it is not possible to implement ambitious programmes in just one year. As it was, the policy debate continued in 2006, producing a series of new landmark statements in the process. So what’s the outlook for 2007? 

     

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