The European Parliament’s new Development Committee, chaired by Linda McAvan, has been formed at an important juncture for development policy. In the run-up to May’s elections the merit and value of Overseas Development Assistance was loudly questioned by UKIP and other Eurosceptic parties.
Meanwhile, development policy professionals are focusing on policy debates including the ‘post-2015 Millennium Development Goals’ agenda. Ahead of the EU’s ‘2015 European Year for Development’ and the UN Climate Summit in Paris, EURACTIV Institute organised a roundtable in Westminster to ask:
- Is European overseas aid helping the people it needs to?
- Are European policymakers in tune with European public opinion when it comes to spending on Overseas Development Assistance?
- Where should the EP Development Committee and the new European Commission focus their energies in respect of the Development agenda?
Participants included:
- Linda McAvan – Member of European Parliament, Chair of the Development Committee
- Gustavo Martin Prada – Director for EU Development Policy, European Commission
- Nick Dyer, Director General for Policy and Global Programmes, Department for International Development
- Simon Maxwell – Senior Research Associate, Overseas Development Institute
- Dr. Camilla Toulmin – Director, International Institute for Environment & Development
