European Union

The regulation establishing the new “Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument - Global Europe” was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 14 June 2021, ending several years of negotiations. The Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) replaces 7 European Union financial instruments and 3 funds and guarantees related to external relations, including the European Development Fund, the European Neighbourhood Instrument and the financing instrument for development cooperation. With an overall financial envelope of EUR 79.5 billion (in 2018 prices) for the 2021-2027 period, the new instrument aims to increase policy coherence and improve synergies and the flexibility of these interventions. The new instrument will cover the European Union’s cooperation with all third countries, with the exception of the candidate countries and the overseas countries and territories.

Discussions on the reform of the European financial architecture for development have continued in the Council. The conclusions of 14 June 2021 pave the way for closer cooperation between national, European and international financial actors and institutions engaged in development cooperation.

The Council has continued to refine the Team Europe approach, which aims to combine the resources of the European Union, its Member States and financial institutions, in particular the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in support of shared objectives. Originally designed to highlight the European Union’s commitment to combating the effects of COVID-19 in third countries, the concept quickly evolved to signify closer cooperation between European actors. The values guiding the approach are European solidarity with the partner countries and Europe’s determination to play a leading role in achieving a sustainable recovery. In general, Luxembourg has aligned itself with this approach and welcomes the new dynamic it creates for joint programming, as well as on the political level, in terms of the European Union’s role on the world stage.

The most concrete example of the Team Europe approach is the “Team Initiatives”. Originally conceived as a set of flagship projects highlighting the joint efforts of all European actors in one or two sectors in a partner country, the concept evolved quickly and its details were clarified by the Council in its conclusions of 23 April 2021.

In addition, the Council adopted conclusions on “EU partnerships with middle-income countries: opportunities for the development in transition agenda”; “Strengthening Team Europe’s commitment to human development” on 14 June 2021 and the “Council conclusions on water in the EU’s external action” on 19 November 2021. Throughout the negotiations, Luxembourg has shown a commitment to the importance of the least-developed countries in development cooperation, and to ambitious language in relation to human development, equitable access to water and gender equality, as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights.

In order to position Europe as a leader in the field of Digital for Development (D4D), while providing a common European response to the challenges of digitisation, in December 2020 the European Commission and 11 EU Member States, including Luxembourg, launched the D4D Hub. This initiative serves as a multi-stakeholder strategic platform for digital cooperation between Team Europe members and their global partners, using a human-centric approach to digital transformation.

In this context, the African Union-European Union (AU-EU) Digital for Development (D4D) Hub project has also been signed and is being implemented by five European development agencies, including LuxDev SA. With EUR 8 million under European funding, the project aims to help bridge the digital divide, including the gender divide, and to use digital innovations to foster sustainable and inclusive development in Africa. In addition to the AU-EU D4D Hub, which became operational in 2021, the D4D Hub has also officially launched its three regional branches: for Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa. In the Africa branch, Luxembourg took the lead in the thematic working group on cybersecurity in late 2021 and began the first discussions on potential projects in this area.

In the context of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is also worth noting Luxembourg’s commitment to the COVAX mechanism (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access), which is the third working axis of the four working axes in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT Accelerator, Act-A). The ACT Accelerator is a collaborative framework, not a new organisation, and its goal is to end the pandemic as quickly as possible. The ACT Accelerator was created in April 2020, following an appeal by G20 leaders in March 2020. The entities working together under the ACT Accelerator are: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CEPI, FIND, Gavi, the Global Fund, Unitaid, Wellcome, the World Health Organization and the World Bank. The COVAX mechanism is led by Gavi and ensures the equitable supply of COVID-19 vaccines. The COVAX mechanism includes the COVAX Facility, as well as the COVAX advance market commitment (COVAX AMC) financing instrument. The COVAX market commitment financing instrument enables 92 low- and middle-income economies to be supplied with donor-funded doses of vaccine.

On 3 January 2022, in the framework of Team Europe, Luxembourg initiated procedures for the donation of 605 850 doses of vaccines through the COVAX mechanism. In 2021 Luxembourg also undertook to donate EUR 4 million to support the COVAX market commitment instrument (COVAX AMC). Team Europe was the largest initial donor, with EUR 853 million at the beginning of 2021, and in December 2021 Team Europe’s contribution to the COVAX market commitment mechanism stood at over EUR 3 billion.