Activities of Eleni THEOCHAROUS related to 2016/2094(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the revision of the European Consensus on Development PDF (329 KB) DOC (83 KB)
Amendments (37)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2
Citation 2
– having regard to the EU Common Position for and the outcome document of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness of December 2011,2 _________________ 2 http://www.oecd.org/dac/effectiveness/496 50173.pdf which launched the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC),
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)
Citation 4 a (new)
– having regard to the Dili Declaration of 10 April 2010,[1]which concerns peace-building and state- building, and to the 'New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States' launched 30 November 2011, [1]http://www.g7plus.org/sites/default/file s/resources/Dili%20Declaration%20and% 20g7%2B%20Statement%20%5BENGLIS H%5D.pdf
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
– having regard to the Second High- Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation of 28 November to 1 December 2016 in Nairobi,[1] [1] http://effectivecooperation.org/events/201 6-high-level-meeting/
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 b (new)
Citation 6 b (new)
– having regard to the OECD/UNDP 2014 progress report, 'Making Development Co-operation More Effective',[1a] [1a] http://effectivecooperation.org/wp- content/uploads/2016/05/4314021e.pdf
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
– having regard to the new framework for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations (2016-2020),
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 b (new)
Citation 9 b (new)
– having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Child and its four fundamental principles of non- discrimination (article 2), best interests of the child (article 3), survival, development and protection (article 6) and participation (article 12),
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas unity of the purpose of achieving the universal and inter-related SDGs and eradicating poverty, inter- dependence and respective responsibilities should be at the heart of our development policy;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas in order to address our primary objective eradicating poverty and fighting all human rights' violations, we collectively (EU) and individually (Member States) must take actions in line with the principles of country ownership of development priorities, inclusive development partnerships, focus on results and transparency and accountability;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the importance of the European Consensus on Development in providing a joint and coherent position at both EU and Member State levels on the objectives, values and principles and main aspects of development cooperation; believes that the Consensus acquis and in particular its holistic approach and the clear primary objective of fighting and eradicating poverty must be safeguarded in its revision; recalls that Member State and EU-level development policies should reinforce and complement each other;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recognises the importance of a clear European external strategy requiring coherence of policies, notably on peace and security, migration, trade, the environment and climate change, humanitarian assistance and development cooperation; reiterates, however, that development objectives are goals in their own right; recalls the treaty-based obligation enshrined in Article 208 TFEU to ‘take account of the objectives of development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries’; as well as Article 21 (1) TEU that the Union's action on the international scene shall be guided by the principles [...] of democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity, the principles of equality and solidarity, and respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recognises the role of civil society in raising awareness among the public and in addressing SDGs on national and global level through the Global Citizenship Education and Awareness Raising;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that combating inequalities in and between countries, discrimination, injustice and strife and promoting peace, democracy, good governance, rule of law and human rights as well as inclusive societies and sustainable growth must be objectives cutting across every area and every action of EU development policy;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that development cooperation can arise from inclusion, trust and innovation founded on respect by all partners for the use of national strategies and country results frameworks;
Amendment 98 #
6a. Insists that development policy must reflect more consistently the Union's focus on fragile states, youth unemployment, and women and girls facing gender-based violence, harmful practices and those in conflict situations and recalls the EU's commitment to allocate at least 20 % of its ODA to basic social services, namely education and health;
Amendment 108 #
8. Stresses the importance of the principle of democratic ownership, giving developing countries the primary responsibility for their own development but also allowing national parliaments and political parties, regional and local authorities, civil society and other stakeholders to fully play their respective roles alongside national governments; and to actively participate in the decision- making process;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls for political dialogue between the EU and partner countries/regions to be a central strand of any EU development cooperation, and for such dialogues to focus on common values and how to promote them; calls for further parliamentary and civil society involvement in political dialogues; stresses that social dialogue is a key element that should be mainstreamed in the EU's development policy;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls for gender equality and women’s rights to be a cross-cutting goal in EU development policy in accordance with the EU Gender Action Plan, coupled with specific policy-driven action to target challenges in this area; calls for further EU efforts to promote the important role of women and youth as agents of development and change; underlines in this regard, that gender equality comprises women and men and girls and boys and that programmes should encourage equal co-participation of rights and services, for example as in the case of access to education or to reproductive and health care services; calls, to that end, for further actions in order to accelerate efforts to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women by deepening multi-stakeholder partnerships and tracking resource allocations for these aims, strengthening capacity for gender responsive budgeting and planning and ensuring the participation of women's organisations;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Reiterates the EU's commitment to invest in the development of children and youth by improving the reporting on child-focused development cooperation and domestic resources, and strengthen capacity for youth to participate in accountability exercises;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Calls for support towards fragile and conflict affected countries, to access resources and partnerships needed for development priorities, as well as promoting peer learning between them and enhancing engagement between development, peace building, security and humanitarian partners and efforts;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Underlines the ongoing importance of the objectives set out in the human development chapter of the current European Consensus; stresses the need to connect these objectives to the SDGs and to put horizontal health system strengthening (other than support for vertical programmes for specific diseases), at the core of health development programming, also in order to strengthen resilience in the case of health crises such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa of 2013-2014, and to ensure the fundamental right to universal health care, as provided by Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and by the Constitution of the World Health Organisation (WHO); recalls that Article 168 TFEU states that a high level of human health protection must be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Recalls that the aim should be reaching people who need health care, when and where they need it while acknowledging that all the elements of health care systems are subject to conflicts and emergencies, in which case emergency response systems are deemed necessary to effectively prevent and/or respond to a possible outbreak and in order to achieve sustainable development in the long-term;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Welcomes the progress made but calls for further efforts by the EU and its Member States towards joint programming and implementation in order to pool resources, improve the in-country division of labour, reduce transaction costs, avoid overlaps and aid fragmentation, and promote country ownership of development strategies; calls on the EU and its Member States to further coordinate their actions with other donors and organisations such as emerging donors, civil society organisations, private philanthropists, financial institutions and private-sector companies;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Recalls that development effectiveness, understood as the effective use of all means and resources geared towards development, including poverty reduction, depends not only on aid donors but also on the existence of effective and responsive institutions, sound policies, the rule of law, inclusive democratic governance, and safeguards against corruption within developing countries and illicit financial flows at international level;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Calls for objective and transparent criteria for resource allocation of development assistance at Member State as well as EU level; calls for those criteria to be based on needs, on impact assessments and on political, social, environmental and economic performance, with a view to the most effective use of funds; stresses, however, that such allocation should never be made conditional on performance in areas not directly linked to development objectives; stresses that good performance towards mutually agreed goals should be encouraged and rewarded;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Recognises that general budget support promotes national ownership and alignment of the national development strategies of partner countries involved, but underlines that it should only be considered when and where the conditions are right and effective control systems are in place;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Underlines the important role to be played by the EIB under the EU's proposed External Investment Plan in building more resilient economies that tackle root causes of poverty; stresses its initiatives that focus particularly on young people and women, that contribute to investment in socially important sectors such as water, health and education or that step up support for entrepreneurship and the private sector;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 b (new)
Paragraph 25 b (new)
25b. Points on the fact that EU grants are increasingly blended with EIB lending in order to achieve better project results in developing countries and to actively promote sustainable growth in developing countries; calls on the EIB to work alongside the African Development Bank (AfDB) to finance long-term investments in the service of sustainable development; also points to the 2014 European Court of Auditors' special report No. 16 asking the Commission to ensure a documented assessment of the added value resulting from EU grants in terms of achieving EU development objectives;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Recognises the role of local small and medium-sized enterprises as engines of growth and employment; calls for the promotion of an enabling environment for investment and business activity in order to stimulate and accelerate domestic economic development, as well as of training programmes and regular public- private dialogues; acknowledges the EIB's role in supporting SMEs in developing countries but asks the EIB to devote more resources to microfinances by calling on the Commission and the Member States to acknowledge this success by means of an increase in the budget provisioning for micro credits in the EU's external lending mandate; points out that microcredits have a strong gender perspective;
Amendment 253 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Supports EU efforts to increase transparency and accountability in natural resource management and in the extraction of and trade in natural resources, and to prevent illegal trade in sectors such as minerals, timber and wildlife; strongly believes that further global efforts are needed in order to develop regulatory frameworks for supply chains, so as to ensure sustainable management of and trade in such resources and to allow resource-rich countries and their populations to further benefit from such trade; recalls that all but the smallest EU importers of minerals (tin, tungsten, tantalum, gold) will have to do "due diligence" checks on their suppliers, and big manufacturers will also have to disclose how they plan to monitor their sources to comply with rules aiming to stop the financing of armed groups and human rights abuses through trade in minerals from conflict and emergency areas and thus contributing towards sustainable development;
Amendment 266 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Believes that synergies between the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and development instruments need to be fostered in order to find the right balance between conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict rehabilitation and development; stresses that external policy programmes and measures to this end have to be comprehensive, tailor-made to the country situation and, when financed through means foreseen for development policy, correspond to core development objectives as defined under ODA; underlines that the core tasks of development cooperation remain to support countries in their endeavour to create stable and peaceful states that respect good governance, the rule of law and human rights, and to seek to establish sustainable functioning market economies with the purpose of bringing prosperity to the people and fulfilment of all human basic needs;
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Stresses the central role of development cooperation in addressing the root causes of forced migration, such as state fragility, conflicts, insecurity and marginalisation, poverty and, human rights violations, discrimination and climate change; calls therefore for migration- linked development assistance to focus on promoting inclusion, economic and deconomicent employment opportunities, democracy- building, good governance and the rule of law, and policy space for civil society; stresses the need to foster resilience and enable the displaced in existing displacement situations to live in dignity as contributors to their host countries, until voluntary return or resettlement;
Amendment 275 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35a. Underlines that responding to the migration crisis together in a meaningful way requires a more coordinated, systematic and structured approach, matching the EU's interests and the interests of our partners whereas an effective way of helping large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers is in improving the conditions and offering both humanitarian and development assistance to conflict regions as well as neighbouring countries offering aid;
Amendment 279 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Underlines that countries of origin and transit for migrants need tailor-made solutions for development that fit their respective political and socio-economic situations; stresses the need for such cooperation to promote respect of human rights and dignity, good governance, peace and democracy-building and should be based on common interests and shared values;
Amendment 299 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40
40. Strongly believes that the global presence of the EU and its Member States makes them well placed to continue to play a leading international role in addressing global public goods and challenges (GPGC); calls for a GPGC chapter to be included in the revised Consensus, clearly outlining the priority areas to be tackled, among them insecurity and state fragility, migration, health and educationuman rights violations, inequalities and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation and/or religious preferences, health, including reproductive health care and access to medicines and vaccines for all, education, including in emergency situations, demographic challenges and urbanisation, the environment, access to sustainable and affordable energy and climate change, food security, and eradication of malnutrition and hunger and new technological challenges, barriers and opportunities;
Amendment 305 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 a (new)
Paragraph 40 a (new)
40a. Reaffirms that ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030 (SDG 7) is crucial for the satisfaction of basic human needs, including access to clean water, sanitation, health care and education, and is essential for supporting local business creation and all kinds of economic activity as well as a key driver for development progress;
Amendment 308 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 b (new)
Paragraph 40 b (new)
40b. Stresses that increasing productivity of small-holders, achieving sustainable and climate resilient agriculture and food systems play a key role in the fulfilment of SDG 2 which aims at ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030; stresses therefore that the EU should ensure sustainable food production implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production systems that increase productivity and production;
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 c (new)
Paragraph 40 c (new)
40c. Underlines that during and in the immediate aftermath of humanitarian crises, children are among the most vulnerable victims; stresses that education in emergencies is crucial for both the development and the protection of these children whereas at the same time access to free and public education is paramount for the sustainable development of both developed and developing countries;