European Development Policy Outlook – Page 2 – Debating Development Research

22/10/202422/10/2024

EU Sustainable Finance Strategy: Proposals for Reform and Extension

By Sören Hilbrich and Kathrin Berensmann / Part of the European Development Policy Outlook Series

The EU has set itself the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% from 1990 levels by 2030 and becoming climate-neutral by 2050. Currently, financial markets are clearly not aligned with this goal as investments in environmentally harmful economic activities are still taking place at a large scale. For instance, according to a recent report of th e International Energy Agency, the global energy investments in fossil fuels still amounted to more than USD 1 trillion in 2023 and have even significantly increased since 2020 after a dip during the pandemic.

08/10/202408/10/2024

EU Development Policy in the Security Trap

By Werner Raza / Part of the European Development Policy Outlook Series

The new EU Commission is forcing EU development policy under the yoke of its security strategy. By overestimating its global negotiating power, it risks not only to harm Europe’s long-term interests, but to exacerbate geopolitical tensions.

17/09/2024

Finland’s Development Aid Plunges amid Far-Right Take-Over of Policy Agendas

By Eija Ranta and Martta Kaskinen / Part of the European Development Policy Outlook Series

The boost in popularity of the populist right-wing Finns party has meant a bumpy ride for Finland’s development affairs. With far-right extremists in the government, Finland’s development aid is plunging. In this blog post, we recall the historical peculiarities of Finland’s path from an aid recipient to becoming an international development donor and shed light on the contemporary challenges and controversies of Finland’s stance to development issues, demonstrating a drastic change to earlier commitments.

20/08/202420/08/2024

Danish Development Cooperation Caught between Old Tropes and New Realities

By Adam Moe Fejerskov / Part of the European Development Policy Outlook Series

Although strong in absolute growth, Danish development cooperation remains caught between the fragmentation and lack of focus that comes from pursuing an overload of priorities – some of them fueled by domestic politics and circumstance – and the new realities of both multiple crises and a strengthened Global South, conversely demanding strategic clearsight.

13/08/202413/08/2024

Overseas Development Aid in Ireland – How Does it Compare to other EU Countries and What Can We Expect for the Future?

By Pieternella Pieterse / Part of the European Development Policy Outlook Series

Ireland’s overseas development aid programme is, and always has been, a little different from fellow long-term EU members and neighbouring countries. Many of Ireland’s neighbours have histories of colonial occupation of counties in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Their aid programmes often continue to reflect these ties, and the reparations many countries sought to deliver after their former colonies’ independence. As a country that was long colonised, not colonising, Ireland’s development aid programme started from a place of empathy and solidarity, with an acute sense of having experienced a population decimating famine 150 years earlier.