The organizer: European Commission (DG DEV)

The European Commission has been organising the Natali Prize since 1992 to reward journalists working for the defence of Human Rights, Democracy and the Development.

More specifically it is the DG Development and relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific States (DG DEV) of the European Commission that manages the organisation of the prize.

This DG is responsible for the development policy of the Commission all over the world, and for the relationships with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

The "European consensus" drawn in December 2005 with the other European institutions and member States defines the framework of the development policy with the fight against poverty as its high-priority. More specifically, the priorities for the development policy are the following:

• to ensure that the aid given by the European Commission and all of the Union member States increases as in the proportion promised. With over 100 euros per European citizen given in 2006, the European Union is the first donor of external aid in the world. Over half of the worldwide aid comes from the Union and the Commission directly administers around a sixth of it;
• to lead the way in matters of effectiveness of aids given, by improving the coordination within the European Union and with the other donors. For this purpose it is essential to better plan the aids, to encourage emerging donors (that is to say, the new Union member States) and to ensure an efficient and rational use of the aid, the volume of which is soaring rapidly. The European code of conduct on the division of work between donors is the latest example in this field;
• to manage the coherence in the policies serving the development : to ensure that the other European policies comply with the objectives of the development policy, in order to accelerate the realisation of the objectives of the millennium for the development. The main policies of the European Union concern trade, the environment, the climatic change, security, the agriculture, fishing, migrations, transports, the energy, research and innovation, the information society and the social dimension of globalisation.

Besides the foreign and security policy and the trade policy, development is a growing part of the external actions of the European Union. In its relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, the DG Development favours partnerships supporting good administration of Human Rights and Democracy, which are essential tools to deal with globalisation. The EU-African strategy (December 2007) and the strategy of the Union for the Caribbean (March 2006) and the Pacific islands (May 2006) comprise the general orientation policy of the relations with these countries.

The DG Development is in close cooperation with EuropeAid, which carries out the external aid of the European Union with the humanitarian aid department of the European Commission (ECHO), as well as with the DG External Relations managing the relations of the European Union with the other countries.

For further information :

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/piebalgs/index_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/development/index_en.cfm
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/development/index_en.htm

 

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