After 3 years of negotiations the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development this weekend in New York by the Heads of State and Government and High Representatives, represents a historical moment in the fight against poverty, inequality and achieving sustainable development.
S&D MEPs Linda McAvan, Elly Schlein and Arne Lietz attended the UN Summit last weekend in the framework of the official European Parliament’s delegation of the development committee. They took part in various interactive dialogues, side events and bilateral meetings with high-level UN officials, civil society representatives, youth organizations, the private sector and the academia. All meetings focused on the importance of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, the follow-up and the review process and financing of development. The ongoing refugee crisis and the root causes of migration were also among the issues discussed.
The Chair of the European Parliament development committee, S&D MEP Linda McAvan said: „We welcome the adoption of the Agenda 2030. Our role now is to make sure that those ambitious 17 goals are translated into concrete actions. She reiterated her call to member states to fulfil their commitment to 0.7% of GDP to Official Development Aid. „Europe needs to better coordinate its internal and external policies as well as to raise public awareness on the sustainable goals and to communicate more effectively the Agenda.“
Shadow rapporteur on European Parliament Resolution on post-2015 development agenda, S&D MEP Elly Schlein said: „We are very happy that the member states were able to adopt this ambitious agenda with all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular the most innovative ones on fighting inequalities, on gender equality and on peaceful societies. Furthermore, it is important that the EU managed to speak with one single voice during the negotiations. Now we will all be ambassadors of these new goals: parliaments, NGOs, civil society organizations and citizens, we will have to monitor closely their implementation, and hold governments accountable to what they agreed to, to make sure we will reach the goals by 2030.“
S&D MEP Arne Lietz pointed out: „It is a great success that one of the central sustainable development goals focuses on good governance which is also an important corner stone for the achievement of other goals and to keep them sustainable. The SDGs will require all countries, both developed and developing, to make a major shift in their national policies including taking social and cultural rights seriously and signing the still open UN protocols on those topics.“
The next step is the implementation of the Agenda which will require a strong commitment of all actors including governments, parliaments, civil society and the private sector both inside the EU and globally. Better policy coherency is needed in order to integrate in a holistic manner the three dimensions of sustainable development social, economic and environmental. Parliaments including the European Parliament will play a critical role in the follow-up and monitoring process of the implementation of the SDGs.
