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Meeting
Summary
Baroness
Jay, in the chair, opened the meeting by welcoming Geoff Hoon
MP, and explaining that his speech would focus on three questions
which he had already asked the prospective audience to provide feedback
on (a summarised
version of this feedback can be found here). These were:
- Which three
main global challenges are especially suited for a Europe-wide response?
- What three main strengths and three main weaknesses will determine
whether the EU is or is not able to deliver a good response?
- What does the UK and wider European development/external relations
community have to do differently to make sure the weaknesses are
overcome?
Rt Hon Geoff
Hoon MP
Rt Hon Geoff
Hoon opened his speech (full version can be found here)
stating that there had never been a more important time to discuss
the international challenges that we face today and the role that
Europe can play in tackling these. He said he had previously argued
that politics has changed with the challenge of globalisation. He
said that he greatly valued the policy contribution of both ODI
and the Foreign Policy Centre and also said that it was vitally
important to harness the significant role of the NGO community.
He emphasized that the message he wanted to convey was one of working
together, especially in the European context.
He stated that
much of his career has centred on Europe and that he had seen the
contribution that the EU can make within the multilateral system.
He explained that the questions he posed to the audience before
this meeting were difficult. When asked which three main global
challenges were especially suited to a European Union response,
unsurprisingly the answers included some of the most difficult issues
that we face today:
- Tackling global
poverty
- Making progress on climate change
- Supporting conflict resolution and peace-building initiatives
The causes of
widespread poverty and instability can only be dealt with at an
international level. These issues mobilize citizens; people care
about what happens in remote places and governments need to respond.
As the world's largest donor, the EU provides half of all aid. The
Minister said that he works very closely with DFID on the global
poverty agenda and one issue remains a top priority: keeping the
promises of the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005 on Africa which European
leadership helped to achieve. In addition, at the December 2006
European Council, four areas were highlighted for priority action
in 2007: strengthening the strategic partnership with Africa; supporting
Africa's quest for good governance; promoting growth and sustainable
development and investing in people. The Council also underlined
the importance of intensifying co-operation between the EU and Africa
on the links between migration and development.
International
Trade: Doha Development Round
Trade can have as equal an impact on reducing poverty as aid. The
EU is still working hard towards a successful outcome of the Doha
Development Round and the UK government remains fully committed
to achieving an ambitious, pro-development outcome that delivers
for the poorest countries. The EU must continue to show the leadership
it has done right from the start to help bring about an agreement.
EU Regional
Trade Agreements with the ACP
Alongside Doha, the EU is also pressing ahead to achieve successful
development-friendly Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between
the EU and Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific. 2007 is a critical
year.
Climate Change
Climate change is at the forefront of the debate on sustainable
development. Strong multilateral commitment is required if this
issue is to be addressed effectively. Opinion polls show consistently
strong public support for united EU action on the environment and
energy security and more than half of UK citizens polled support
joint EU decision-making on these issues. Again, the UK government
has been at the forefront of tackling this issue and it is now a
top priority for the EU. The right outcomes from the Spring European
Council in March would set the EU on an accelerated path to becoming
the world's first low-carbon economy. It should include the ambition
of making EU power generation carbon-free by 2020. The EU-China
Climate Change Partnership, agreed at the EU-China summit in September
2005 now has a rolling work plan. There is also hope for agreeing
a common EU position on a post-Kyoto framework which can form the
basis for the G8 summit in June.
Conflict
resolution and security
There are clear linkages between development, climate change and
security. The European Defence co-operation agenda has been remarkably
successful and the European Defence and Security Policy has enabled
the EU to make a difference in the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa
and post-tsunami Indonesia, deploying over 11,000 military personnel.
In the Middle East, the EU contributes to the international community's
efforts and took the lead in delivering direct support to the Palestinian
people after the Hamas government was elected last year. In addition,
the EU is the second largest donor in Afghanistan, contributing
collectively a third of the aid provided by the international community.
Future challenges
Future challenges for the EU will include ensuring that all of its
work is mutually reinforcing, for example, that EU development policy
is underpinned coherently by policy in other areas such as trade,
energy and security. The EU must also continue to press for aid
effectiveness and increased transparency.
Living in an
increasingly inter-connected world, the UK government must find
the best way, not just to work with European partners, but also
to co-operate with and influence other countries and multilateral
institutions. The contribution of the EU is often not sufficiently
recognised in UK public debate so there is a need to engage people
on the issues they care about, and to encourage lobbying - sometimes
of the governments of other Member States too.
The EU also
needs to work with other relevant regional and international bodies
and NGOs/civil society. The EU is also increasingly taking on a
leadership role in areas where only slow progress has been made
elsewhere. On trade, climate change and conflict issues, for example,
the EU is already making a difference for greater prosperity, peace
and security well beyond its own borders.
Discussion
The following questions and comments were raised during the discussion
which followed:
- What conflict
resolution/peace-building roles has the EU played elsewhere, e.g.
in Darfur?
- How is the EU seeking to change its role from merely that of an
observer and to ensure that its voice is heard?
- Politics within the EU are very difficult - it is necessary to
have one conversation per issue, with one constituency. What role
could other Europe Ministers play in improving this?
- There are often differences in the approach of different member
states to poverty reduction - e.g. for those affected by migration,
both from nearby, as well as further afield, such as Spain. How
can these differences/issues be overcome?
- EU policies on climate change, trade and agriculture (CAP) are
not aligned with policies for poverty reduction. What will the UK
government do in this regard?
- Will there be an EU campaign on work/job creation with the ILO,
etc and will the UK government be at the forefront of this campaign?
- How will the common security policy and the changing role of NATO
fit together?
- What more can the UK government do to ensure that EU policies
on trade, migration, etc enhance development and how can reporting
on these be improved?
- What are the three priority issues for the EU over the next 12
months, rather than the much longer-term?
In his responses,
Mr Hoon stated the following:
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Peace building was a key issue and central to that is governance.
EU states must recognise that they have a responsibility, derived
from their colonial history and the focus should be on capacity
building.
- Another focus should be on building the relationship between the
EU and Africa.
- An important part of the Minister's responsibilities were the
Caucuses and a significant issue was that an assertive Russia may
re-awaken previously frozen conflicts in the area, for example in
Georgia. The process of inclusion (for example, in NATO) must continue.
- There would be an increasing focus on the Black Sea region.
- The evolution of the Common Foreign Security Policy had been controversial.
Javier Solana had carried out important work and such a presence
in the Caucuses would be very valuable.
- Common enthusiasm for defence was beneficial as it provided a
good resource and developed compatibility.
- It
was important not to have separate conversations in each Member
State and in Brussels on separate issues and instead to work out
a way to pool sovereignty in relation to foreign policy.
- It was important to ensure that poverty reduction and other, related
policies were aligned.
- The UK government had indeed helped to ensure that climate change
had been pushed up the agenda.
- The NGO community in the UK could bring their well organised and
effective campaigning power to bear with other states in Europe
to ensure that important issues took centre stage.
- Job creation was an important issue. Markets should ensure high
labour standards both internally and externally.
- In relation to CAP, the UK had argued for a serious review of
the EU budget and significant reductions in subsidies had already
been achieved.
- The three immediate priorities for 2007 were: climate change,
Africa and the Constitutional Treaty.
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