Comisia pentru dezvoltare

On 28 March, from 14.30-17.00, the Committee on Budgets will hold a public hearing on the EU budget for EU external action. Members of the Committee on Development will participate in the debates. The hearing is held in view of the upcoming MFF review and possibly revision. Members and experts will discuss how the EU budget can deliver efficiently for development cooperation and humanitarian aid. It will take place in room Antall 4Q1.

Kenya is a key economic and political partner for the European Union and plays an important role as a peace broker in the region and is a leader when it comes to producing regional energy. It also faces a number of challenges with one million children under five malnourished. In this context, a delegation of six members from the Committee on Development, to be chaired by MEP Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, will travel there from 3 to 5 April 2023.

Together with the Delegation to the EU-Türkiye Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries, Members of the DEVE Committee will discuss the outcome of the International Donors’ Conference in support of the people in Türkiye and Syria on Thursday 23 March, from 13.30-15.00, in room Spinelli 1G3.

DEVE and ENVI Members considered the draft report on the Implementation and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals, on 22 March 2023. The report aims at contributing to the overall EU efforts towards the SDGs implementation by 2030, the midterm being a key moment for the EU to translate its ambitions into concrete strategies and actions.

On 21 March, the Committee on Development held a public hearing on how to create sustainable and decent employment opportunities in Africa for its increasingly young population.

Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), met with DEVE Members on 21 March to discuss the impact of shifting geopolitical circumstances on UNDP's work and, more generally, doing development work in complex settings such as crises or working in countries with de facto authorities.

On 16 March 2023, a delegation of Members from the Committee of Foreign Affairs (AFET) and on Development (DEVE) visited the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg. Members held discussions on EIB external action, especially activities of the ‘EIB Global’ branch which was set up in January 2022. This new branch promotes investments outside the EU, supporting EU partnerships around the world, in particular in climate change, innovation and development.

A delegation of five members from the Committee on Development, chaired by Tomas Tobé, traveled to Washington DC from 21 to 23 February 2023. The purpose of the delegation visit was to engage with the US, as well as with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, civil society organisations and think-tanks, on the crises in Sub-Saharan Africa and developing countries in other parts of the world.

One year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the devastation and destruction resulted in some 40 per cent of Ukraine’s population now in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. In this context, on 1 March, Members of the Committee on Development, together with the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee, focused on these devastating humanitarian consequences of the war.