The Development Co-operation Policy of the EC

The Treaty on European Union introduced specific objectives for the Development Co-operation Policy of the Community. The inclusion of Articles 130u--y marks an important stage in the emergence of the Community's Development Co-operation Policy. It affords the Community an opportunity to eliminate the inconsistencies of the past which have arisen through the gradual and patchwork development of that policy. It also affords the Community a much-needed opportunity to adopt an integrated and coherent policy which will promote the economic and social development of all developing countries and their gradual integration into the world economy and which should make a significant contribution to the campaign against poverty in developing countries. The general scope of the objectives set for the Development Co-operation Policy are examined in Chapter One, which provides an overview of the development of the general outline of that policy up to 1992. Chapters Two to Five concentrate on the region-specific application of the Community's Development Co-operation Policy by examining the relationships established through the Lome Conventions with the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, and through other agreements with the countries of the Mediterranean, Latin America and Asia. In each chapter, the focus of attention is the trading relationship established with the Community. Chapter Six is an examination of two problems of co-ordination; between the Development of Co-operation Policy and other Community policies; and between the Community Policy and those of the Member States. The conclusion emerging from the discussion is that one very important area of co-ordination was omitted from the provisions of Articles u--y, namely the co-ordination of the instruments of development co-operation themselves. The final chapter proposes a new Development Co-operation Policy for the Community to meet new objectives set by Articles 130u--y.