On the occasion of the UN Summit on the achievement of millennium development goals that is to take place between 14th and 16th September in New the Foundation has published an exhaustive study by Corinne Balleix on the European Development Co-operation Policy.

The European Union comprises developing countries' main partner with regard to official aid. Along with its Member States it provides 55% of all official international aid for development. A certain number of major challenges have been launched recently in co-ordination with EU Member States: greater coherence with other Union policies; the need to review the issue of funding.

In order rise to these challenges the Union has embarked on path to define a strategy that aims to extract the best in terms of Europe's added value in this area, to improve the quality and impact of its activities and to react to new global challenges whilst maintaining Europe's particular mark on the world.

This is what is at stake in the new Declaration for Development Co-operation that is to be adopted this year; it is an issue that takes on its full meaning with the participation of the EU in the next UN Summit dedicated to Millennium Development Goals.