Alisa Herrero ; Cecilia Gregersen

2016
ECDPM

Abstract: This study follows on from and complements ECDPM’s analysis of the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) national programming experience published in September 2015. The 11th EDF regional programmes are the European Union’s (EU) main instruments for supporting regional integration in the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region. By reviewing the EU’s regional programming process, this study sets out to reveal how the EU and its ACP partners approached the challenges of supporting regional integration. The EU is redefining its global foreign and security strategy, and rethinking the role played by development policy in this. There is also recently the decision to revise the European Consensus on Development. The EU needs to ensure that its development policy is fully integrated with its external action and is in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and EU commitments on climate change, thus ensuring coherence between domestic and external policies. Given the importance of the EU as a political and financial sponsor of regional integration, these developments will also indicate the extent to which the EU is planning to continue to prioritise this area in the future.

Keyword(s): Regional Integration ; EDF ; ACP ; Cotonou