About: Annick Girardin

Regions push for greater influence in climate negotiations

SPECIAL REPORT / Local authorities are raising the pressure on national governments to increase their CO2 emissions reduction targets. But they are struggling to make their voice heard at the international climate negotiations. EURACTIV France reports. 

African nations and donors agree on plan to protect Congo forests

Six African nations have agreed with donors on a plan to protect the tropical forests of the Congo basin, the second biggest in the world, after the Amazon's, to help ease poverty and combat climate change.

French development aid reform to generate ‘substantial’ new funds

France hopes to boost funding for development and climate action by linking the French Development Agency with the country's public financing body. EURACTIV France reports. 

Tax evasion to dominate Addis Ababa development conference

Stopping tax evasion in the Global South is a crucial step in raising development finance, but the issue has divided the international community. EURACTIV France reports. 

France helps Fiji with COP 21 contribution

The world’s poorest countries will have access to financial aid from several donors, including France, to help them implement projects to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. The EU is encouraging other member states to participate, ahead of the Paris Climate Conference in December 2015. EURACTIV France reports. 

France pushes for security spending to be recognised as development aid

France spent millions resolving conflicts in Mali and the Central African Republic in 2014. Now Paris is lobbying the OECD to include spending on security and peacekeeping operations in calculations of official development assistance. EURACTIV France reports.

Majority of French feel ill-informed about development aid

According to a study published by the French Development Agency (AFD), 88% of French citizens feel ill-informed about public development aid. Though most of those questioned supported development policy, opposition is growing. EURACTIV France reports. 

French agencies score poorly in Aid Transparency Index

In another blow for French development aid policy, Publish What You Fund has placed France near the bottom of its 2014 international rankings for aid transparency. EURACTIV France reports.

Annick Girardin: ‘Climate refugees’ should come first

Climate change is not just about the environment. It is also about people. France's Minister for Development, in conversation with EURACTIV France, following this week's UN Climate Summit in New York.

EU launches first-ever development fund for CAR

The European Commission has announced a fund to link relief, rehabilitation and development in the Central African Republic, an initiative which will be financed by France, Germany, the Netherlands and private donors. EURACTIV France reports.

Another setback for French foreign aid

France decreased public development aid for the second time in 2014. A law on development adopted on 23 June has not helped, and the future of French foreign aid looks bleak. EURACTIV France reports.

French overseas aid reshuffled after budget cuts

The new French legislation on development aid policy aims to create a unique structure to oversee the country's international technical expertise. Budget cuts mean government will shift emphasis to “coherence and efficiency,” EURACTIV France reports.

French development aid and francophonie make unlikely bedfellows

The French cabinet reshuffle brought the development and francophonie portfolios under one secretary of state, an arrangement that many struggle to understand. EURACTIV France reports.