Development Policies

Development is an increasingly important part of the EU’s external relations, along with its foreign, security and trade policies.

As well as promoting good governance, human rights and democracy, the focus is on tackling poverty in developing countries, especially by:

monitoring EU and national funding against promised increases. The EU is the world's largest donor of development funding, giving over half the world total (€100 for every EU citizen in 2006). Around one sixth of this is administered directly by the EU.
making funding more effective
- better coordination within the EU and with other donors (e.g. EU code of conduct on division of labour between donors).
- making funding more predictable
- encouraging emerging donors (as new countries join the EU)
- ensuring efficient and effective use of rapidly rising funding volumes
ensuring other EU policies incorporate development goals – e.g. trade, environment, agriculture, migration and the social dimension of globalisation.

The EC has always been deeply committed to the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC initiative)

DG Development works closely with its sister departments at the EU: