The European Year for Development: Europe in the World

Briefing 29-01-2015

The world has changed in recent years, in ways that have undermined the traditional development model. The new 'Sustainable Development Goals' (SDGs) – to be agreed in September 2015 by the UN – will need to reflect these new realities and emerging challenges. A majority of the world's poorest people live in developing countries, where aid represents only a small percentage of all development financing. Aid remains important: its exclusive goal is promoting development, and it composes a large share of low income countries' development financing. The EU's new development policy aims to focus aid on the poorest countries. The European Parliament (EP) has welcomed this, while warning about the criteria used to judged countries' need. Together, the EU and its Member States remain the world's largest donor, although they contribute far less than the 0.7 % of gross national income (GNI) to which Member States committed. The EP has called on the EU to meet its commitments and adopt concrete measures to make internal policies coherent with development objectives.