Reforming the EU budget for a more sustainable future
Following the publication of the White Paper on the Future of Europe outlining 5 possible future scenarios for the European Union, SDG Watch Europe and more than 250 civil society organisations have proposed an alternative sixth scenario which puts people and planet at its heart and presents a more inclusive and sustainable future for Europe.
One important step to advance in this more sustainable scenario would be reforming how the EU is spending its money to make the budget work for its citizens and concretely support the implementation of the SDGs in Europe.
Rethinking the budget in a more sustainable and inclusive perspective is the objective of the new campaign People’s Budget led by Bank Watch and supported by SDG Watch Europe as well as by many other civil society organisations.
The campaign was launched on June 27 2017, just before the Reflection paper on EU finances was released on June 28. SDG Watch Europe gave its input to the European Commission’s paper proposing a set of guiding principles for a reformed EU budget.
2030 Agenda: Voluntary National Reviews
As part of the follow up mechanism, the UN 2030 Agenda encourages Member States to “conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress” in the implementation of SDGs framework at national and sub-national level. Some countries have volunteered to present national reviews and they are already publishing the “main messages” from their reports.
Countries that have already published their “main messages” from Voluntary National Review Reports are:
An analysis of the nine OECD countries voluntary reports which were presented at the 2016 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) of the United Nations (Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Korea, Switzerland and Turkey) can be found in the recently published OECD report on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development.
More information are available at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf
Implementing SDGs in and by Europe: What role for NGOs in the new partnership?
While governments insist on the need to engage civil society, private sector, academia and other actors in the national implementation of the SDGs, the scope of the multi-stakeholders partnership set up by the European Commission remains unclear.
The IDDRI, IEEP, DIE and SEI are organising a collaborative workshop in Paris on September 19th to identify possible solutions, mobilise NGOs and establish new partnerships with governments and the private sector.
To register please contact Elisabeth Hege via email: elisabeth.hege@iddri.org
Early registrations are highly recommended as the capacity is limited.