As the Coronavirus pandemic expands, and peak contagion remains uncertain, policy responses are gradually emerging, being implemented in a number of domains.
The crisis has several important implications, but two are currently dominating the headlines: individual health and the sustainability of national healthcare systems, and the economic fallout from the pandemic.
With the global economy going into a steep recession, developing countries are facing considerable financing shortfalls. Confronted with its most severe crisis since WWII, Europe needs to adopt a global perspective, as it cannot successfully address it in isolation. There is a moral imperative to help vulnerable people in distress and foster global solidarity to prevent catastrophic outcomes.
The multi-annual financial framework report was based on a previous physical workshop event which took place in Paris on January 2020 and which brought together key players in France to agree on the conditions allowing to secure an ambitious budget dedicated to external action (“Heading 6”), particularly for the challenges of sustainable development in southern countries. The workshop and the report was also an opportunity to reflect on the role of the European Union’s external action policy.
In December 2018, the ETTG published a paper comparing emerging Member State positions for the financing of the EU’s external action under its next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), covering the period 2021-2027. Its first observation that negotiations are moving slowly unfortunately still holds today.
The Council of the European Union – on proposition of France and Germany – mandated a Wise Persons Group (WPG) to assess options for a more efficient and sustainable European financial architecture for development. The group published its final report this Tuesday, in which it presents three scenarios for a future European Climate and Sustainable Development Bank. Lennart Kaplan and Benedikt Erforth (DIE) are analyzing and giving a brief blog based on the Wise Persons Group report.
It may one day be the case that European Parliament elections are fought on a truly pan-territorial basis, with parties, politicians and platforms all operating at a European level. That is not going to happen this year, but there are moves in that direction. The party groups in the European