The Netherlands and European development cooperation

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Within the European Union (EU), the Netherlands is one of the four biggest donors to development cooperation. It is committed to a sound and robust European policy in this field.

European focus

The cornerstones of European development cooperation policy are:

  • better coordination of member states’ development policy

  • further improvement of the aid provided by the Commission

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The Dutch contribution

Roughly 10% – approximately €450 million in 2010 – of the Netherlands’ total aid budget goes to the European Commission. The Dutch contribution comprises two elements:

  • the contribution to the European Development Fund (about one third);

  • the European Commission’s allocation to Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the regular EU budget, chiefly for spending on the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI), the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), and humanitarian aid (about two thirds).

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In recent years, coordination has increased within the EU in development-related policy areas. In 2008, for instance, this resulted in common EU positions prior to the major conferences in Accra (Aid Effectiveness, in September 2008) and Doha (Financing for Development, in November 2008).

The European position for UN meetings is systematically coordinated by the EU presidency.

Efforts are being made at EU level to achieve a division of labour between donors. In 2007, the development ministers adopted an EU Code of Conduct with the aim of strengthening collaboration. In developing countries, EU Heads of Mission and the head of the EU delegation hold regular consultations on political problems in these countries.

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European development cooperation and the Treaty of Lisbon

The Treaty of Lisbon enables the European Union to improve foreign policy coherence. Poverty reduction is one of the EU’s foreign policy instruments but it is also an independent objective, as enshrined in the Treaty. That is why the Netherlands attaches great importance to knowledge and expertise in the field of development cooperation within the European External Action Service and to having a strong European Commissioner for development and humanitarian aid.

Ambitions

With a view to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, all EU nations (with the exception of the most recent members) have pledged to raise spending on ODA to 0.7% of GNP by 2015. Currently, five countries (including the Netherlands) meet this commitment.

The ODA budgets of Spain, Ireland and the United Kingdom are scheduled to meet the target of 0.7% in the near future. However, other member states still lag far behind and are unlikely to make good on their commitment.

The Netherlands is urging all EU member states to honour the commitments they have made.

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