Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-17-Speech-2-987"
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"en.20080617.35.2-987"2
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".
Mr President, Mr Schmidt’s report on policy coherence for development highlights perfectly one major flaw in the EU’s development cooperation policy in the wider context: it is not sufficiently coherent and it frequently does not cut across all the essential sectors.
The report focuses on the effects of the EU’s exploitation of biological natural resources on West Africa. The most important natural resources for the region’s Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are wood and fish, and more than 80% of exports of these go to the European Union. Although agreements have been made in both sectors that are built on the principles of sustainable development, they have not been comprehensive enough. There are clear signs that many species of fish are being overfished, and a lack of regulation and control has resulted in forest being cut down illegally and unsustainably. The resultant impoverishment in the region can also be linked directly to large-scale migration.
I voted in favour of Mr Schmidt’s report and I believe that the coherent EU policy it calls for could have a significant impact in West Africa, the EU being the region’s biggest purchaser of the region’s key products. It is worth remembering, however, that trade policy alone is not the answer. It has to be closely connected mainly with development cooperation, so that the region can enjoy the sort of political and socioeconomic conditions for the countries concerned to be able to exploit the full potential of their biological natural resources themselves. Another essential factor here is that the coherence of policies that impact on development can only come about properly if they begin to be implemented at the highest political level."@en1
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