Sustainable Development

Together, the European Union and its Member States are the world’s largest aid donor providing over half of all global development aid. Development policy at the EU level is currently being revised in light of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Abuses of power and financial, natural and other resources continues to have serious negative impacts on development, aggravating poverty, conflicts and political, social and economic instabilities. Every year an estimated $1 trillion of illicit financial flows leave developing countries in the form of tax evasion, embezzlement, bribes, money laundering and smuggling. These illicit financial flows are now rising twice as fast as global GDP, depriving countries and their people of resources that could be put towards achieving trans-formative sustainable development gains.

We want to ensure that EU development aid addresses and is subject to anti-corruption efforts. The EU needs to develop an overarching EU Sustainable Development Strategy that includes both internal and external action, including a plan of implementation, with concrete targets and timelines. This strategy should coordinate the EU’s overall achievement of the 2030 Agenda, each of the 17 SDGs, 169 targets and the use of agreed indicators, to help the EU and its member states focus clearly on what needs to be achieved, and how. The EU also needs to develop strong monitoring, review and accountability mechanisms and consider citizen-generated data to help track progress towards the achievement of the Goals.