Position paper on the review of the European Consensus of development
The European Union is set to review its entire framework for development cooperation. This will define not only the development policy of the EU and its member states, but also how to ensure that all policies respect the EU’s international commitments.
It is indeed the right time to review the Euroepan Consensus on Development, as it is known: the EU has to cross-check its policy approach with the Paris climate agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015.
However, Oxfam is also seeing certain risks in this update- linked to trends of an instrumentalisation of aid for stopping migration, to a focus on private sector engagement with only limited safeguards, and to an increased securitisation of aid.
This position paper sets out Oxfam's vision on the red lines that an improved policy should uphold.