A new 7.2 million euro package was launched at the beginning of May in the West African Ghana for strengthening the bananas' production and export sectors. The package is part of the European Commission’s Banana Accompanying Measures (BAM) programme.

EU’s proposed approach of ‘differentiation’ will lead to cuts in grant-based bilateral aid to 17 upper-middle-income countries (UMICs) and two lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2014. These countries will only still be eligible for funds from thematic and regional programmes.
This policy is expected to fundamentally change the nature of the international development and cooperation dynamics by altering the volume of funds, modalities, and sectors.

On May 15th, after 36 hours of negotiations, the 27 fisheries ministers of the European Union agreed on a new mandate for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which stipulates a 5% ban on discards.

A new 15,4 (EC$54) million EUR banana support programme was launched in the Carribean state, Dominica. The package is part of the European Commission’s Banana Accompanying Measures (BAM) programme.

The European Commission launched on April 27 in Brussels a strategy to help the 27 EU member states to “better prepare” for the impact of climate changes
The adopted documents aim to provide a coherent and improved coordination of the response to the impacts of climate change at local, regional, national and EU levels.