The European Commission has just released its Reflection Paper on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), entitled “Towards a Sustainable Europe in 2030”. The late release of this document, which has been postponed many times since mid-2018 and as the SDGs were adopted more than three years ago, is to be deplored. Moreover, the current Commission, which will be replaced following the May 2019 elections, will not have the necessary political time to put in place a strategy for the implementation of the SDGs as requested by the European Council in its conclusions of 18 October 2018. The ball is now in the court of the Member States and civil society to launch a debate around this paper and ask the next Commission to act. But there is no guarantee that the Commission will want to work on the basis of a document that it did not produce. However, it should.
Elisabeth Hege, IDDRI, in this paper, summarises the state of the debate and proposals on the implementation of the SDGs at European level, and suggests some interesting ideas for the future.
This paper is available on the IDDRI website.
Image courtesy of Poisson Lucas via Flickr.
