European Development Fund (EDF)
- Jean Robert Goulongana, Secretary general of the ACP Group (Photo: European Commission)
The EDF is the instrument for financing co-operation under the Cotonou Agreement, set up with the ACP countries.
Budget: 13.5 billion Euro for 2000-05. Funded by direct contributions from Member States it is not part of the EU budget and has therefore been criticised for being outside the EU Parliament's control.
Its procedures prevent large amounts of money from being spent, as planned - it usually takes 10 years to spend a five-year EDF allocation. Part of the spending goes back to the Member States.
The future
The Convention proposes to include the development fund under the general EU budgetary rules.Links
http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/r12102.htmhttp://www.odi.org.uk/tropics/funds/EDF.htm
