Eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development

 

SUMMARY OF:

Communication (COM(2014) 335 final) — A decent life for all: from vision to collective action

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE COMMUNICATION?

• It seeks to contribute to the European Union (EU) position in international negotiations on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• The 2030 Agenda aims at reinforcing the international community’s commitment to eradicating poverty and supporting sustainable development.

KEY POINTS

Main objectives

• The communication describes the key principles, the priority areas and the potential targets for a new integrated agenda stemming from the follow-up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Rio +20 and Monterrey conferences.
• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should contribute to a new international framework that will succeed the MDGs in the context of a new global partnership between all countries, as well as with civil society (for example, citizens acting collectively) and the private sector.

Principles

• The EU’s vision for the 2030 Agenda (during the negotiation phase prior to adoption) was that it should aim to eradicate extreme poverty and to put the world on a sustainable path, thus ensuring a decent life for all by 2030.
• The EU position during the negotiations was that the 2030 Agenda must be:
  • based on the 3 dimensions of sustainable development: social, environmental and economic;
  • global in its ambition and applicable to all countries;
  • based on national ownership, taking into account different national contexts, capacities and levels of development;
  • rights-based and people-centred.

Priority areas and targets

• The priority areas identified were aimed at contributing to the global discussions taking place within the United Nations (UN) Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals. These priority areas included:
  • poverty;
  • inequality;
  • health;
  • food security;
  • education;
  • gender equality;
  • water and sanitation;
  • sustainable energy;
  • decent work;
  • inclusive and sustainable growth;
  • sustainable consumption and production;
  • biodiversity;
  • land degradation; and
  • sea and oceans.
• The EU also wanted to see the 2030 Agenda address justice, equality and equity, good governance, democracy and the rule of law, as well as peaceful societies and freedom from violence.

Mobilising the necessary financial resources

Given the challenges, full use needs to be made of all available resources:

• 1.

  internal resources by improving tax policy and administration, combating illicit flows and corruption and enhancing natural resources management;

• 2.

  international support to access additional resources and investment, such as blending different forms of finance;

• 3.

  private sector to support inclusive and sustainable growth.

The EU called on EU countries to confirm the target of 0.7 % of their gross national product committed to official development assistance by 2015.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

• ‘International issues’ on the European Commission's website.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions A decent life for all: from vision to collective action (COM(2014) 335 final, 2.6.2014)

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions A decent Life for all: Ending poverty and giving the world a sustainable future (COM(2013) 92 final, 27.2.2013)

last update 12.12.2016