Date: Tuesday, 9 January 2024
As a global actor, Europe puts emphasis on values like human rights, democracy, international rules and a just transition that leaves no one behind. But when it invests European money abroad, the EU often ignores its own standards. Development money is being used to promote domestic European commercial interests and to secure resources to cater to the EU’s unsustainable market demand. Geopolitical competition and the refusal to give the Global South an equal decision-making role makes promises of ‘equal partnerships’ look empty. An obsessive focus on commercial interests reinforces a climate agenda which does not prioritise key prerequisites for a just transition in Europe and globally, such as quality public services to meet the needs of the people.
While the world is facing multiple collective environmental and social crises which disproportionately impact the Global South, Europe must decide if it wants to further undermine its credibility or embrace global cooperation along just economic principles, a genuinely ecological economic model and rights for all.
The speakers of the webinar delved into a nuanced discussion surrounding the recalibration of public spending within the EU’s international development agenda, placing a specific spotlight on the Global Gateway initiative. The primary objective was to address pressing concerns regarding an increasingly blurred line between cooperation policies and EU’s geopolitical and commercial strategies at a time when development needs are more urgent than ever. Representatives from diverse backgrounds – including the European External Action Service (EEAS), the Belgian Ministry of Development Cooperation, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the NGO Debt Observatory in Globalisation (ODG) – proposed perceptive recommendations aimed at fostering a more sustainable and equitable approach to development finance.
This 75-minutes-long webinar was well attended, recording 60 participants. 43 of them were coming from 8 EU countries and did not participate in the previous webinar of the series.
Read full description of the webinar here.
Full recording of the discussion can be accessed here.
This webinar was organised by Counter Balance within the Citizens’ Observatory for Green Deal Financing project, financed by European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).
