Europe Development News |
France For Fairer African-Multilateral Contracts
During a recent parliamentary debate at the French National Assembly, France's Development Minister Pascal Canfin indicated that France will be the first to financially support equitable contracts between African countries and multilaterals, L'expansion reports. 'Strengthening the legal capacity of African states to better negotiate their contracts, especially in the field of exploitation of raw materials, is both a necessity for local development and a means of ensuring a legitimate presence of foreign firms on African soil', Canfin said. He confirmed that French finance support to these initiatives, in partnership with the World Bank, will reach 15 million.
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Credit: MAE |
Germany Launches New Institute For Development Evaluation
The German Development Minister, Dirk Niebel, and Secretary of State at the Development Ministry (BMZ), Hans-Jürgen Beerfeltz, have inaugurated the German Institute for Development Evaluation, 'Deval'. Termed 'the cornerstone of reform' by Dirk Niebel, the new institute will provide independent evaluations of the performance of German development cooperation efforts. Deval is based in Bonn and directed by Professor Helmut Asche.
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European Parliament On Policy Coherence For Development
The European Parliament has voted through a resolution calling for better alignment of all EU policies to development objectives, Eurodad reports. The resolution was passed with 561 votes in favour, 47 against and 51 abstentions. Key themes of the resolution are sustainable procurement and tax and development, although some had hoped for a more ambitious call for country-by-country reporting.
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UK To Cut £280m Annual Aid To India
The head of the UK's Department for International Development, Justine Greening, has confirmed plans to cut British aid to India in light of the country's rapid development, the Guardian reports. Following recent discussions between Greening and Indian officials at the World Bank regarding the UK's current annual contribution of £280m to India, future cooperation between the two countries is to focus on trade. The decision comes after confusion regarding whether the aid was needed or indeed wanted, with Indian finance minister Pranab Mukherjee calling the sum 'peanuts'. |
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Credit: Flickr user mckaysavage
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CGD in Europe Update |
Migration And Disaster-Induced Displacement: European Policy, Practice And Perspective.
In a recent Center for Global Development Working Paper, Michael Cooper surveys the current state of law relating to people displaced by natural disaster within the 27 EU member states, plus Norway and Switzerland. Its findings show that a few express provisions are in place in Europe and that judicial and executive authorities may interpret other, more ambiguous, provisions to encompass the protection needs of disaster-displaced individuals. Few, if any, of these provisions have been engaged for this purpose but a number of recent European developments with respect to disaster-induced displacement merit further scrutiny.
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