The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers has requested the urgent parliamentary processing of the draft Law on Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity.
The bill, approved by the Council of Ministers last May 31, will replace the current Law on International Cooperation for Development of July 7, 1998, which introduced, among other new features, the definition of the objectives of development cooperation as a distinct area of foreign policy, the principle of policy coherence for development and the Master Plan as a planning instrument.
Last Tuesday, at the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Presidency, the Council of Ministers authorized the agreement requesting its parliamentary processing by the urgent procedure with a view to achieving its definitive ratification this year.
The future regulation contemplates, among its main novelties, the reform of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the establishment of the new Cooperant Statute and the regulatory development of financial cooperation. It also provides for the creation of the Spanish Fund for Sustainable Development (FEDES), a financial cooperation instrument that will assume the functions of the Fund for the Promotion of Development (FONPRODE).
It also gives legal status to Spain’s commitment to allocate 0.7% of GNI to Official Development Assistance (ODA) by 2030 and stipulates that 10% of all cooperation aid be set aside for humanitarian aid. Among the geographical priorities of Spanish Cooperation, the draft Law includes the Sahel for the first time and maintains the traditional areas, including Latin America and the Caribbean. Likewise, aid will be reinforced in the event of unforeseen crises.
According to the Executive, the future law responds “to the demand of the sector and the Government’s commitment to renew the legal framework of Spanish Cooperation in the face of the changes that have taken place in global development” and to “the changes that have occurred in the cooperation of the General State Administration, the Autonomous Communities and local authorities”, according to the Government. The new law is aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris climate change agreements and other international instruments.
“We are facing an avant-garde law that places Spain as a more dignified country within the international community and as a benchmark in cooperation models,” stated the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, last January, after the approval of the preliminary draft of the Law in the Council of Ministers.
