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Official Development Assistance of the European Union
By Attila Szép
Abstract
In 2004 Slovakia gained full membership in the European Union. This fact has significantly determined the framework for further activities of Slovakia as a donor country. Therefore this article consists of two parts. First part offers a short survey of the official development assistance (ODA) of the EU and the second provides the reader with a survey of the evolution and analysis of the current system of ODA in the Slovak Republic.
The range, objectives and territorial priorities of ODA of the EU depend on two factors: dynamics of European integration and international environment. Considering this, the development policy of the European community in the period between 1957 up to 2004 can be divided into several phases. According to Erika Fodor, there are three of them. We can consider the period from 2000 up to now as a forth one. The first one, covering the period from 1957 to 1975 began when the European Communities were established and ended when the first document adopted in Lome was signed. In this period, the political development in the developing countries was of dynamic character. Moreover, a few countries establishing the EC still possessed territories overseas at the time. Therefore in the Rome Treaty, the relation and responsibility of the EC towards these territories have been anchored. Three fundamental instruments to realise the objectives existed: firstly, European Development Fund was established to finance the development programmes in these territories; second pillar was posed by the food aid (especially to countries in Asia); and finally, development assistance was based on different bilateral economy and trade treaties between the EC and developing countries.