European Parliament (Brussels):
- 9-10 and 12 November: Committee meetings
- 11 November: Political groups meetings
- 11-12 November: Plenary session

EU Presidency (Brussels):
- 9 November: Eurogroup; Special Committee on Agriculture; Working party on Development Cooperation (CODEV); Africa Working Party (COAFR)
- 10 November: Economic and Financial Affairs Council; ACP Working Party;
- 11 November: Coreper I & II; Codex Alimentarius Working Party; Africa Working Party (COAFR); Meeting between the EU troika and Nigeria;
- 12 November: Coreper II; Ministerial meeting between the EU troika and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society; Working Party on External Fisheries Policy
- 13 November Coreper I; ACP Working Party; Working Party on External Fisheries Policy; Working Party on Foodstuffs

ACP Secretariat (Brussels):
- 10 November: W/G on LDC Sugar
- 11-12 November: Meeting of ACP Senior Trade Officials
- 12-13 November: Meeting of ACP Ministers of Trade

For more information please consult the calendar on our webpage http://brussels.cta.int/

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) Committee of Ambassadors have expressed concerns to the European Union on the threats of climate change to the ACP countries, and urged the Europeans to help them combat the threats. The ACP Committee of Ambassadors was given the opportunity to raise their concerns to Swedish Ambassador, H.E Mr. Christian Danielsson, and the Director General for Development of the European Commission, Mr. Stefano Manservisi, in a meeting at the ACP House. Sweden holds the presidency of the EU at present. Besides, climate change, both parties also exchanged views on the recently ratified Lisbon Treaty and its effects on the ACP-EU relations and the global financial and economic crisis. However, much of the discussion was focused on climate change and efforts undertaken by both sides leading to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month.

Source: ACP Secretariat

The video recordings of the 14th Brussels Briefing session "ACP rural development: why media matters?" are now available online.

Experts say the Horn of Africa already faces a chronic food shortage which, without an adequate international response, could lead to a humanitarian crisis. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is today responding to this crisis by announcing £39 million more in humanitarian assistance for the Horn of Africa. £30 million will go to Ethiopia where which faces a very real threat of food shortages.  Around 14 million people – around one in six – struggle to feed themselves. The funding is additional to £24 million emergency support already provided to Ethiopia in 2009. An extra £9 million is being provided to help people in Kenya and Somalia.  In Kenya, £5 million will go to UNICEF and other organisations to help those who need it most, especially acutely malnourished children.  In Somalia, £4 million will also go towards helping the most vulnerable. A number of factors have combined over the past two years to leave Ethiopia short of food. These include unpredictable global food price inflation and the repeated failure of rains which are essential for agricultural production. If the forthcoming harvest fails, it will lead to a worsening humanitarian situation into 2010.

Source: DFID

The 2970th General Affairs Council meeting held in Luxembourg, on 26 October 2009, took note of the Commission Recommendation concerning the conclusion of an Agreement on Economic Cooperation between the Republic of Portugal and the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe with a view to fostering macroeconomic and financial stability of São Tomé and Príncipe. Since the introduction of the euro, the Community has an exclusive competence for monetary and exchange rate matters in the euro area. In accordance with Article 111 of the Treaty, euro-area Member States may negotiate and conclude international agreements provided that the exclusive competences of the Community are preserved.

Source: European Council

The European Union used the world's biggest book fair to launch the EU Bookshop's digital library, making more than 50 years of documents in about 50 languages available for free on the Internet. Individuals, companies and isolated libraries from Australia to Zambia can download files dating back to 1952 when six countries created what is now the 27-member EU. The library's oldest document is a speech by Jean Monnet to inaugurate the High Authority of the Coal and Steel Community, the EU's precursor.  The library's contents will also be a part of Europeana, a project of prominent national European libraries and archives that Claudia Lux, president of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions called the largest digital library worldwide.

Source:  European Commission

World leaders could fail to reach a new climate deal at a UN summit in Copenhagen if rich countries refuse to financially help developing nations tackle climate change, government and NGO officials said at a development conference that wrapped up Saturday. With less than 50 days to go before it starts, the Copenhagen summit was a central topic of debate and discussion at the annual EU development conference, held in Stockholm. "We don't think they'll be a deal without the right funding package," said Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International, urging the European Union to agree on how to finance developing countries' switch to low-carbon strategies. While most officials remained positive about a climate deal being reached at the December 7-18 summit, Hobbs' comments highlighted a growing concern that efforts to replace the Kyoto protocol could be hampered by the problems of securing agreement between developed and developing countries.

Source:  France24

The huge challenges facing the world economy demonstrate that we live in a global economic system and there is no escape behind protectionist trade barriers.  World leaders have taken decisive steps to reduce the risk of catastrophic failure of the financial system. In recognition of the need for global action the G-20 has assumed the mantle of global economic coordination. Global Sugar Alliance members support the G-20 Leaders' Pittsburgh commitment "to adopt a set of policies, regulations and reforms to meet the needs of the 21st century global economy" and recognise that to achieve this outcome, two major global issues must be addressed: (i) the threat of climate change becoming a reality that cannot be addressed in any other way than by coordinated global action and (ii) the Doha Round of trade negotiations as WTO's Doha round of negotiations, conceived to free up trade in agricultural products and enable faster development of the world's poorest economies, still has not delivered an outcome.

Source: Reuters

The European Commission published a progress report of the Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) approach launched in 2005 as part of the European Consensus on Development. The PCD review published in late September says that its framework “allows for a systematic exploration of the effects that EU policies other than aid might have on development and on the achievement of the MDGs. The European Commission claims that these are “powerful mechanisms to promote PCD”. However the report also acknowledges several obstacles as: (i) a “lack of awareness of development issues” by other ministries; (ii) a “difficulty of providing evidence about the ultimate impact of non development policies on poverty in developing countries”; (iii) a “lack of political will and the limited priority given to world poverty reduction”. This among other issues were discussed during the European Development Days in Stockholm.

Source: Eurodad

Faced with a dramatic increase in piracy off the Horn of Africa, countries have stepped up their efforts to protect shipping in the region. However, attention is now turning more to the question of why people turn to piracy to make a living and what can be done to provide an alternative. ILO Online reports from Somalia where an ILO programme financed by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) seeks to provide a visible peace dividend to poor communities by engaging them in large scale employment-intensive projects, together with enterprise skills development and the promotion of social dialogue.

Source: International Labour Organisation

The European Commission has adopted rules to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), which come into force in January 2010.

Source: European Commission

As the new minister for Africa, Glenys Kinnock faces security and development issues at the heart of UK foreign policy. The announcement by Downing Street that Glenys Kinnock has switched her post as Europe minister to take responsibility within the Foreign Office for Africa means that ministerial overstretch in the FCO will continue. This is extremely worrying at a time when the UK faces severe strategic challenges in its foreign policy. Lady Kinnock will replace Lord Malloch-Brown, former minister for Africa, the UN and Asia (including Afghanistan). A few hours before he left government in late July, he indicated that he expected to be replaced imminently. In fact it has taken almost three months for these changes to occur, and they amount to nothing more than stretching the existing team even more thinly. If it is simply a matter of "housekeeping", why has it taken so long?

Source: The Guardian

The regional meeting of West African states is pursuing the ACP Fish II Programme, the overall objective of which is to promote fair and sustainable management of fishing grounds with a view to reducing poverty and increasing food security in the ACP countries. The press release containing this information explains that the programme, which was launched in June 2009, will extend over a period of four and a half years ending in November 2013. It emphasizes the fact that ACP Fish II is a decentralised programme and will be managed on a regional basis by Regional Facilitation Units (RFUs) located in Senegal, Gabon, Uganda, Mozambique, Belize and the Solomon Islands, each one of which will serve a number of ACP countries. The same source reveals that the RFU in Senegal will coordinate programme initiatives and activities in the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. At the Dakar meeting the objectives of the programme and the means available to support fishing policies and implementation strategies are to be presented. At the same meeting, the source continues, “the representatives of the fisheries administrations and the regional fisheries organisations will be asked to identify existing needs and the types of activities to be supported by the programme in order to meet those needs”.

Source: Sud Online

The 2968th Council meeting on Environment held in Luxembourg on 21 October 2009 endorsed the outcome of the International Maritime Organisation Conference on Ship Recycling in May 2009 and the adoption of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (“Hong Kong Convention”).  The Council invited the Commission to encourage voluntary actions by maritime stakeholders, such as an EU wide public awareness campaign, an award for best practices, promotion of the use of inventories for hazardous materials and of certificates foreseen in the Hong Kong Convention, as well as the greening of existing recycling facilities, while taking fully into account the provisions in the Hong Kong Convention and its guidelines. The Council encouraged Member States to develop and implement, as appropriate, comprehensive national strategies to ensure environmentally sound recycling of ships consistent with national sustainable development strategies and relevant international commitments and obligations.

Source: EU Council

The 2968th Environment Council meeting held in Luxembourg on 21st October 2009 reaffirmed that that developed countries should take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof and recalled the EU proposal that aggregate emission reduction commitments of developed countries should be in the order of 30% below 1990 by 2020. It reaffirmed its commitment to move to a 30% reduction compared to 1990 levels as its contribution to a global and comprehensive agreement for the period beyond 2012, provided that other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emission reductions and that developing countries contribute adequately according to their responsibilities and respective capabilities. While it welcomed the operationalisation of the Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund and looks forward to the disbursement of funds to support concrete adaptation actions, it recognized that further financing will be needed to support adaptation in developing countries and therefore  underlined the need to scale up support for adaptation in developing countries, until and beyond 2012, focusing on countries and regions that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, especially SIDS, LDCs and African countries prone to drought, desertification and floods.

Source: EU Council

The Directors of EU agencies have established a network to provide a forum for exchanging views and experiences on issues of common interest and new developments. From the 1st March 2009 until the end of February 2010, EFSA will coordinate this network. Its role entails holding the network presidency jointly with the previous and future chairs, chairing meetings of the network and coordinating activities. The network meets routinely three times a year.
At this meeting in October, agency Executive Directors will discuss a coordinated strategy with regards to the preliminary findings of an evaluation on the functioning of the agencies led by the European Commission. The main topics of the meeting are the on-going discussions of the inter-institutional working group set up by the European Commission on the regulatory framework of EU agencies, and a presentation by the Commission on internal audit and fraud prevention policies. The next meeting of the Heads of EU agencies network will take place in January 2010 in Brussels.

Source: EFSA

With just over a month to go to the start of the Copenhagen climate summit members of Parliament's environment and industry committees are in Washington to urge their US counterparts to act. The visit coincides with a crucial point for a climate bill in the US Senate, which could define US energy use for decades. The EU's stated policy is a 20% cut in CO2 emissions by 2020 but this could rise to closer to 30% if other key international partners like Washington and Beijing are on board.

Source: European Parliament

Poland is keen for the EU's new diplomatic corps to be a unique type of institution, to take half its staff from national capitals and to gobble up parts of the European Commission's development department. The proposals were put forward in a two page-long paper dated 5 October and are currently doing the rounds in Brussels together with competing ideas from other member states. The Polish paper calls for the European External Action Service (EEAS) to be "a sui generis institution similar to an executive agency" instead of a normal EU institution such as the EU parliament or the commission itself. In terms of staff, 50% of personnel are to come from member states and 50% from the commission and from the Council, the Brussels-based secretariat which prepares EU member states' regular meetings. Despite staying out of development policy, the EEAS should poach the commission's experts on the 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries which currently fall under the development portfolio, on top of the 6,000 or so commission staff who work in the foreign relations department.

Source: euobserver.com

The European Union is contradicting world trade rules by putting the interests of big drug companies before the 2 billion people in the world who cannot access essential medicines, according to a new report issued today by Oxfam International and Health Action International Europe. The EU’s actions also undermine its obligations to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, as well as World Trade Organization agreements.

Source: Oxfam

The U.S. and European Union are likely to eventually meet African cotton producers’ demands to scale back farmer subsidies, World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy said. The U.S. and EU have committed in the Doha round of global trade negotiations to reducing levels of subsidies by 70 percent to 80 percent and to making deeper and faster cuts in programs for cotton, Lamy said. The only missing item is a precise figure, he said. Representatives of poor countries attending a meeting in Dar es Salaam on strategy for the Doha talks called on WTO member nations to allow duty-free and quota-free access for cotton and its byproducts. About 15 million farmers grow cotton in the sub-Sahara region of Africa, the world’s poorest continent, Lamy said. “There will be no conclusion of this round without the U.S. and EU reducing cotton trade-distorting subsidies more ambitiously and more specifically” than their pledges on other products, Lamy said. “That’s already decided. What is not decided is exactly how much.”

Source: African Agriculture

Launched in 2008 at the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Co-operation of Belgium, in collaboration with several development co-operations agencies, the SWAC secretariat is co-ordinating collaborative work on “child labour in the West African cocoa sector”. Bringing together key stakeholders (West African governments, interested OECD countries, private sector representatives, West African producer associations, NGOs, etc.) and regional institutions, this imitative aims to build upon existing experiences and best practices and promote a complementary regional approach on combating the worst forms of child labour. 38%, Ghana 21%, Cameroon 5% and Nigeria 5%). Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are the world’s two largest producers, representing 80% of total West African production. Cocoa is also produced in Togo, Sierra Leone and Liberia albeit in much smaller quantities.

Source: OECD