The cost of non-Europe in development policy : improving coordination between EU donors

Increased coordination between EU development donors can bring about huge economic (annual savings of EUR 800 million from transaction costs and as much as EUR 8.4 billion from better aid allocation patterns) and political (better impact of the development policy) benefits and is therefore a key element of the EU's urgent action to adapt to a changing development landscape. The EU has already put in place some mechanisms for improved coordination in this field, but these have not been sufficiently well implemented, and the possibility of new mechanisms should be explored to further enhance intra-EU coordination. A first step could be the adoption of a new binding coordination instrument, building on current best practices and mechanisms, notably in relation to division of labour and joint programming.