Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-12-14-Speech-3-547-000"
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"en.20111214.33.3-547-000"2
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"Madam President, I wish to thank the rapporteur, Mr Geier, for his contribution to the effectiveness and efficiency of EU development assistance in Afghanistan.
The Commission shares the view that our commitment to Afghanistan must focus on the long-term perspective. At the Bonn conference on 5 December 2011, the EU looked to the Afghan Government to provide the context for this long-term engagement by improving governance and the rule of law and making other structural reforms which are necessary for the transformation of Afghanistan into a fully-functioning, sustainable state at the service of its people.
In Bonn, the EU and its Member States also announced the negotiation of a partnership agreement on cooperation and development with Afghanistan. This agreement will create a coherent, legally-binding overall framework for EU relations with Afghanistan. This long-term commitment will be conditional on the Afghan Government’s progress in further strengthening public finance management systems, reducing corruption, improving budget execution, developing a financing strategy and increasing government capacity. The establishment of a fully independent control and audit office will also remain a precondition for budget support.
As the Afghan Government progressively takes over full responsibility for security and development, we also expect democratic institutions to be strengthened both at central and provincial level. In this context, the Commission will continue to assist Afghanistan by ensuring that monitoring mechanisms adequately address corruption and proper management of aid and that the recipient communities are involved in identifying needs and shaping development assistance policies.
Shortcomings of external assistance in Afghanistan are the result of a complex mix of political factors, military insurgency, economic underdevelopment and drug trafficking, to name just a few. In this environment, multi-donor trust funds have been instrumental in pooling donors around Afghan-owned strategies, harmonising aid and contributing to strengthening national public finance management capacities. They also enable the efficient donor division of labour and facilitate pooling donors’ specific expertise and resources.
The EU aims to surpass the goal of providing 50% of development assistance either directly (on budget) or through multi-donor trust funds, as agreed within the Kabul Process. In Buzan earlier this month, the Commission reiterated its commitment towards aid effectiveness, focusing and deepening on results and accountability, ownership, transparency and reduced fragmentation of aid. This is also our commitment to Afghanistan.
With 2014 on the horizon, we will need to focus on reinforcing current mechanisms to ensure that Afghanistan becomes a fully-functioning and sustainable state capable of fighting fraud and corruption."@en1
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