European Parliament:
- 26-30 October: External Parliamentary Activities

EU Presidency (Brussels):
- 26 October: Working Party: Africa (COAFR); Development Cooperation (CODEV); International Environment Issues (WPIEI)
- 26-27 October: General Affairs and External Relations Council
- 27 October: ACP Working Party
- 28 October: COREPER I; Working Party on Development Cooperation (CODEV)
- 29-30 October: European Council

ACP Secretariat (Brussels):
- 26/27 October: 1st Intra-ACP Migration Facility Workshop
- 27 October: Committee of Ambassadors
- 28/30 October: 4th Regional meeting ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
- 29 October: S/C on Establishment and Finance

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

The 2966th Council meeting on Agriculture and Fisheries held in Luxembourg on 19 October 2009 reached political agreement on a regulation establishing a modernised system for inspection, monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement of the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy throughout the market chain, "from net to plate". Decisions were made on Control and monitoring and sanctions, inspection powers (inspections of fishing vessels to take place outside the waters or territory of the inspecting Member State and independent inspections by Commission fishery inspectors will be possible without prior notice to the Member State concerned) and Cooperation among Member States and coordinating authority (system of mutual assistance and systematic exchange of control-related information between Member States together with a communication of control data via secure national websites with remote access for the Commission and the extension of the mandate of the Community Fisheries Control Agency - CFCA).

Source: EU Council

MEPs agreed on Wednesday to set up a special committee on the financial and economic crisis with 45 members and a 12-month mandate. It will assess the extent and impact of the crisis on Member States and propose measures to rebuild stable financial markets.

Source: European Parliament

The 2009 World Food Day on 16 October is marked by an EU stronger than ever in its commitment to improve access to food around the world. With the commitment made at the G8 meeting in Aquila for more than € 2 billion, in addition to the 'EU €1 billion Food Facility', the EU is the world's biggest contributor to global food security.

Source: European Commission

Almost 6 000 people have now registered for European Development Days, the huge annual event on development and development assistance that kicks off on Thursday at Stockholm International Fairs. Among the participants are President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and financier George Soros, as well as members of the public. The number of people attending is set to be the highest yet at EDD.

Source: EU Presidency

Reaching an ambitious international agreement at the Copenhagen climate change conference will require emission reduction targets for developed and developing countries, financing commitments and sanctions for non-compliance. This is the view of the EP Environment Committee, which argued on Monday that future generations might not be able to control climate change if global action is further delayed.

Source: European Parliament

A fast track procedure to rapidly approve intervention measures for the dairy market was approved by Parliament on Tuesday. This will allow MEPs to debate and vote this week on the new proposals put forward by the Commission.

Source: European Parliament

Environmentalists have clashed with the EU over the legitimacy of the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa), claiming it acts as a mouthpiece for the GMO lobby. Speaking as farmers from around the world called on EU policymakers to stop the authorisation of Bayer GM rice, Juan-Felipe Carrasco of Greenpeace Spain told this website that Efsa did not protect consumers from contaminated products. "Efsa keeps saying it's ok to go ahead with genetic engineering (GE)", he said. "We are not protected by Efsa which is completely controlled by the GE lobby. “GM lobbyists were presenting evidence to Efsa which suit the industry and do not account for consumer health, he added. However, EU health commissioner Androulla Vassiliou insisted that Efsa "is a responsible agency" which carefully examines all scientific evidence. Vassiliou joined farmers at the Greenpeace-organised event on Thursday to accept a petition signed by 180,000 people to prevent the approval of the Bayer rice.

Source: theparliament.com

Non-governmental organisations have expressed their satisfaction at the European Commission’s declaration that it would not put "undue pressure" on African and other countries to conclude the controversial trade deals called economic partnership agreements (EPAs). "The Commission continues to seek tailor-made solutions for all countries within a regional EPA in order to secure their duty-free, quota-free access to the EU and provide an improved framework for their economic development. It considers that it is up to the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) partners themselves to decide which type of trade-related rules they want to negotiate at this stage and to what extent." This statement by the European Commission, released on Oct 1, sounds like a victory for the Stop EPA Campaign which has been running for years now. On Sep 27, the seventh anniversary of the EPA talks, more than 80 organisations from 30 countries called for a fundamental change in the course of the ongoing EPA negotiations between the European Union and the ACP countries.

Source: IPS News

The European Commission called on Europe's information and communication technologies (ICT) industry to outline by 2011 the practical steps it will take to become 20% more energy efficient by 2015. ICT equipment and services alone account for about 8% of electrical power used in the EU and about 2% of carbon emissions. But using ICT in a smart way could help reducing energy consumption in energy-hungry sectors such as buildings, transport and logistics, and save 15% in total carbon emissions by 2020 . The Commission recommends that the ICT sector adopts bold energy efficiency targets by 2011. It also asks EU countries to agree on common specifications for smart metering by the end of 2010.

Source: European Commission

The European Union has developed international scientific cooperation (INCO) over the last 25 years to address the needs and opportunities of an interconnected world, and to contribute to peace and prosperity for European citizens. Europe wants to play a leading role in the world’s research arena and help build a safe future.

Source: European Commission

Today the European Commission is launching Capacity4dev.eu, an interactive website aimed at improving Europe's development co-operation. It will allow the development community at large to meet andexchange best practices on the European Commission's reform of how it provides know-how through training, research, consultancy or technical support. The goal of the reform is to ensure our aid for developing countries happens faster and better. The launch coincides with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Saturday 17 th October.

Source: European Commission

Ahead of the 4 th European Development Days, a Special Eurobarometer on “Development Aid in time of economic turmoil” shows that the crisis affecting European countries did not affect public support for development aid. which still remains high.

Source: European Commission

The European Commission today adopted a Communication on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy aiming to tackle the important cultural and legal challenges of mass-scale digitisation and dissemination of books, in particular of European library collections. The Communication was jointly drawn up by Commissioners Charlie McCreevy and Viviane Reding. Digital libraries such as Europeana (http//www.europeana.eu) will provide researchers and consumers across Europe with new ways to gain access to knowledge. For this, however, the EU will need to find a solution for orphan works, whose uncertain copyright status means they often cannot be digitised. Improving the distribution and availability of works for persons with disabilities, particularly the visually impaired, is another cornerstone of the Communication.

Source: European Commission

The expected introduction of the Lisbon Treaty in 2010 will make major changes in the way EU external action is conducted. While this carries some risks for EU development cooperation, participants were keen to stress the opportunities it presents. In terms of expectations, participants generally hoped that with progress in EU integration and a stronger EU profile in the world, EU development cooperation would be strengthened by the forthcoming changes, that these would promote greater efficiency and improved quality of delivery to partners in the South. Expectations were also high in terms of the new Treaty provisions encouraging greater consistency in EU external action and a good framework for encouraging policy coherence for development (PCD) and the necessary policy space for development cooperation to thrive.

Source: ECDPM

Most people would agree that follow up to the 2008 Accra aid effectiveness high level meeting has been too slow. But there are some rays of light. The Rwandan government is acting on mutual accountability, by pressing donors there to account to make progress on certain targets they have agreed to. UK aid agency DFID has published a blog post on this, and Eurodad has responded on its blog querying DFID’s score and plans. Martin Leach, who heads DFID’s work in Rwanda and Burundi, writes “this year it felt like the tables were turned on the donors”. How? Well at the Development Partners meeting (aidspeak for a donor/government roundtable negotiating session) “all donors were held to account by the Ministry of Finance for the promises they had made”. The ministry took a list of 18 commitments that donors had signed up to – such as delivering the money we had pledged, recording our aid in the Government budget, and giving clear indications of our future financial plans. Leach records that “Every donor’s score was put up on the screen for everyone to see, and there were some red faces round the room – the lowest score was 2/18. The UK was near the top, I’m pleased to say, but we still need to improve, as we only scored 12/18”.

Source: Betteraid.org/Blog

European research needs a step-change in thinking to rival the United States and remain competitive with emerging economies such as China and India according to a report to the European Commission. A panel of scientific experts from academia and industry, established to advise the European Commission, have released their first annual report outlining how Europe can move towards a European Research Area (ERA) - a single market for research with pan-European cooperation. The report identifies a series of changes that are needed if excellent research is to thrive in Europe. The panel's six key recommendations include a call for greater mobility of ideas and people, research to be driven by societal challenges and a higher level of risk taking in research. The concept of the ERA was relaunched in 2007 with the aim to allow free movement of knowledge, end duplication and increase quality of research in Europe. The European Research Area Board (ERAB), chaired by John Wood from Imperial College London, wants European countries to truly embrace 'open innovation' and believes that Europe needs a 'new Renaissance' in research.

Source: RSC

The European Union is providing seed and fertiliser worth 15.4 million euros to small-scale Zimbabwean farmers to boost grain production, an EU diplomat said on Thursday.The EU, which maintains sanctions against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle over charges of human rights abuses and electoral fraud, remains one of the country's largest donors, giving more than 510 million euros since 2002. The head of the European Commission in Zimbabwe, Xavier Marchal, told a meeting of agricultural experts and donors assessing the preparations for the farming season that the EU facility was aimed at improving household food security. "The EC, on behalf of the EU, has signed an agreement with FAO (the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation), which will provide 15.4 million euros to support self-reliance at smallholder farmer level in Zimbabwe", Marchal said. "This programme is part of a wider EC policy aiming at moving this country from food aid to food security."When food shortages were at their peak in 2008, aid organisations were feeding about 7 million Zimbabweans, more than half the population. The EU facility is part of a $74 million fund created by donors, including the World Bank and Britain's Department for International Development, to support up to 700,000 small-scale farmers.

Source: Africa Reuters

This paper reviews the current state of the EU’s development policy reform agenda. It suggests that the extension of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) to this area of EU activity would offer significant advantages. It reviews the EU’s experience with the OMC, identifies the strengths and weaknesses of this process and examines how it might relate to the current formulation and implementation of development policy. Considerable attention has been focused upon the relationship between the development objectives of EU policy, defined in terms of their contribution to poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals, and general external relations policy, reflecting the EUs broader political, strategic and commercial interests. At the same time the effectiveness of the European Commissions aid administration has faced continuing critical comment. This paper is intended to introduce a new element into this policy debate, drawing upon developments in other areas of the EUs activities, namely the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in social and economic policy.

Source: Manchester Metropolitan University

By enshrining two fundamental principles to govern relations between the member states of the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific states, the 2000 Cotonou Agreement raised the expectations of EU and ACP citizens alike. It made equal partnership, appropriation of development strategies and civil society involvement into the cornerstones of EU-ACP relations. Consequently the European Development Fund (EDF), the EU’s principal tool for development cooperation with the ACP countries which is managed by the European Commission, ought to be programmed and implemented in accordance with these principles. The REPAOC-Coordination SUD report on the 10 EDF reveals that this is not the case. Little has been done to put the fundamental principles of the Cotonou Agreement into practice in the field. The EDF programming modalities make it impossible to increase democratic appropriation of anti-poverty strategies and only help to a very small degree to promote the population’s participation in determining, implementing and assessing public development policies and the Commission’s development cooperation policies.

Source: Coordination Sud

Dark clouds are looming over the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) scheduled to be signed by the European Union and ECOWAS this October. The sub-regional meeting of experts on Common Industrial Policy in West Africa from 29-30 September presages failure and yet another deferral of the conclusion of an agreement between the two parties.

Source: Sud Online