The European Commission has released a new Staff Working Document on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). The Commission’s report covers the first three years of the EU’s attempts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, an endeavour for which PCD is crucial. The document however unveils that the EU’s PCD framework, as complex as it might already be, continues to have severe omissions – in particular the complete neglect of the EU’s fiscal and monetary policies on sustainable development in and outside the EU. Moreover, while the Communication maps EU policies on taxation and investment, it sells some of those as positive contributions while it neglects the risks and negative impacts that EU policies in these areas have.

First published by Development Finance International 

At the start of the New Year, the number of countries at high risk of debt distress is growing at an alarming rate. With so many crises already ongoing, and more expected to emerge over the next 12 months, it’s no surprise that the topic is high on the agenda of international organisations. But perhaps it’s not as high up as it should be in order to head off a looming crisis…

First in a two-part blog series 

Tuesday January 15 2019

Today, the European Commission kick-started the debate on whether to change EU decision making on tax matters, suggesting a stepwise move towards qualified majority voting, including giving an active role to the European Parliament. At the same time, the Parliament, which currently has an advisory role on EU tax matters, adopted a strong and progressive report calling for the EU to get rid of tax policies that have negative impacts on gender equality.

When the global financial crisis broke, the world looked to the G20 to find solutions. But as G20 leaders recently gathered in Buenos Aires 10 years on for their 2018 Summit, it was all too clear that ‘too big to fail banks’ have grown even bigger while we’re stuck with a vastly expanded shadow banking industry and a very worrying new wave of debt crises. Even though the G20 consider themselves to be the world’s major body for economic policy coordination, they are sleepwalking into the next crisis.

“There are negotiations being made that are going to answer all of your questions and solve all of your problems. That’s all I can tell you right now.” So goes the line from The Godfather.