Introduction
In September 2005, the UN General Assembly will review the progress made by UN Members in the implementation of the Millennium Declaration, and the global development agenda agreed at the Millennium Summit of 2000. It will look at contributions of both developed and developing countries towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and will discuss how to accelerate progress in view of ensuring that the MDGs will be reached by all countries by 2015 at the latest.
In preparation for this UN High Level Event the European Commission services have compiled this EU Synthesis Report. The report explains how the EU, as the world’s biggest donor and major trading partner, has contributed towards past progress on the MDGs. The report is based on the national reports prepared in 2004 and 2005 by the EU Member States1 and (in the case of the EC report) by the Commission2. It follows the common EU reporting format agreed in June 2004.
This synthesis report describes the major contributions, efforts and activities of the EU and its Member States in support of the MDGs. It provides information on the extent to which the EU has focused its strategies, procedures and instruments on the achievement of the MDGs. It gives examples of specific EU contributions to MDG1-7. It sets out, in some statistical detail, what the EU has invested in the global partnership for development of MDG8 and in ensuring environmental sustainability within the EU (MDG7, target 9). Finally, it lists some specific actions that are currently foreseen to enhance the implementation of the MDGs. Through this report the EU aims to reconfirm to its citizens, its NGOs and civil society, its development cooperation partners and the global community at large its full and continued commitment to the MDGs. In this context the report also aims at raising public awareness and support and at stimulating debate on MDGs and the EU’s responsibilities and capacities in this framework.
This synthesis report does not pretend to provide a complete picture of the EU contribution. The full description of the many initiatives of EU Member States is found in the national reports, which add up to more than 730 pages of text. The synthesis report does not aim either to attribute progress on MDGs to EU inputs. The EU is fully aware that if one donor builds a road, a second constructs a hospital and the third pays for doctors and vaccines, it is impossible to say which of them can claim to have brought down child mortality. As a matter of fact the EU would argue that all of them contributed, but that eventually the success can only be attributed to the developing country that implements the vaccination policy and programmes.
Together with this synthesis report the Commission is also presenting, in separate documents, proposals for further EU political commitments and actions in the context of the MDGs. These Commission Communications deal with (1) accelerating progress towards attaining the MDGs,3 (2) financing for development and aid effectiveness,4 (3) policy coherence for development5. These proposals – that are not discussed in this report – will provide the basis for the actual EU policy response to the MDG challenge for the period 2005-2010.
Footnotes:
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See annex, for full list of prepared reports.
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EC Report on Millennium Development Goals 2000 – 2004, October 2004, SEC(2004)1379.
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Communication on Accelerating progress towards attaining the MDGs, April 2005.
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Communication on Financing for development and aid effectiveness, April 2005.
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Communication on Policy coherence for development, April 2005.
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