Cuardaigh
Policy Departments’ Monthly Highlights January 2024
Bangladesh and the 2024 elections: From 'basket case' to rising star
Strategically located in the heart of the Indo-Pacific region, and almost completely surrounded by India, Bangladesh has the eighth biggest population in the world. In the 50 years following its breakaway from Pakistan, Bangladesh has made spectacular economic and social progress. Once one of the world's poorest countries, with the US administration calling it a 'basket case' when it became independent, Bangladesh is now due to graduate from least-developed country (LDC) status in 2026. The government ...
Understanding policy coherence for development
A commitment under the EU Treaties, policy coherence for development requires the EU and its Member States to take into account the objectives of development cooperation in all their external and internal policies that are likely to affect developing countries. Managing competing objectives is a challenge. Better awareness among EU policy-makers and a streamlined action plan could help mitigate trade-offs and improve synergies.
Afghanistan: Lessons learnt from 20 years of supporting democracy, development and security
The Taliban’s rapid seizure of power in August 2021 took the European Union (EU) by surprise. In response, the EU developed a ‘Basic Needs’ approach and now supports the United Nations’ initiatives to alleviate human suffering and support non-governmental organisations’ activity on the ground. This study asks how, with over 20 years of international action, the EU finds itself in this situation. Significantly, the EU was but one international actor supporting actions initiated by the United States ...
Financial assistance to EU Member States and non-EU countries
Since the creation of the economic and monetary union, the European Union has created various instruments to provide financial assistance for its Member States. Originally (since 2002) such assistance was provided through the balance of payments (BoP) assistance programme, which was reserved only for Member States with a derogation, i.e. those that had not yet adopted the euro. However, following the EU economic and sovereign debt crises (2009 to 2012), four new instruments were created: the (i) ...
Outermost regions of the EU
The European Union's outermost regions (ORs) qualify for special treatment owing to structural difficulties – such as remoteness, difficult topography and economic dependence on a few products – that can severely hamper their development. In addition, the coronavirus pandemic has hit their economies particularly hard. While these regions are quite different from one another, they have levels of unemployment and GDP significantly worse than EU and national averages. Article 349 of the Treaty on the ...
Food security and nutrition as keys to human development
The increase of severe food insecurity is a major point of concern. At the request of the Parliament’s Development committee, two briefings were prepared to explore the role of food security and nutrition as basic interventions in development policies. By drawing on a series of ‘stories from the field’, the first briefing showed the importance of focusing on supporting local food systems, while incorporating a household-centric view of crop diversification and resilience. The second briefing built ...
India and food (in)security
India, poised to become the most populous nation and the third-largest economy in the near future, faces major food security risks. In response, the country has sought to formulate a food security policy that also addresses climate change and the impact of Russia's war on Ukraine, while supporting its aspirations to be a major player in a multipolar world. Both the agricultural and farming issues India faces and the laws it adopts are relevant for global food security. India-EU relations, including ...
New EU scheme of generalised preferences
On 21 September 2021, the Commission published its proposal for a new EU scheme of generalised preferences (GSP). Two of the current scheme's three components are due to expire at the end of 2023, which would deprive developing countries of a vital opportunity to trade under preferential terms with the EU. Therefore, renewing the scheme appears to be both a necessity and an opportunity to strengthen its conditionality in the light of lessons learned and the increased urgency for dealing with the ...
2021 Report on Kosovo
With a population of 1.8 million (93 % ethnic Albanians), Kosovo* unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Kosovo's perspective of a European future was stated during summits in Thessaloniki (2003), Sofia (2018) and, recently, Zagreb (2020), Brdo (2021) and Brussels (2022), where EU leaders reaffirmed their unequivocal support for the Western Balkans' European perspective. The European Parliament is expected to debate the European Commission's 2021 annual report on the country during ...