European Development Fund
instrument for European Union aid for development cooperation outside the EU
The European Development Fund (EDF) was the main instrument for European Union (EU) aid for development cooperation in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT). Funding was provided by voluntary donations from EU member states. Until 2020, the EDF was subject to its own financial rules and procedures and was managed by the European Commission (EC) and the European Investment Bank. The EDF has been incorporated into the EU's general budget as of the 2021–2027 multi-annual financial framework.
Articles 131 and 136 of the 1957 Treaty of Rome provided for the creation of the EDF with a view to granting technical and financial assistance to African countries that were still colonised at that time and with which certain countries had historical links. Usually lasting 6 years, each EDF lays out EU assistance to both individual countries and regions as a whole. In 2000, the EU transitioned from post-colonial aid to partnership agreements with ACP Group countries, as set out in the Cotonou Agreement. This introduced governance reforms, sustainable development and human rights as key priorities.
Funding
Until its incorporation into the EU's general budget in 2021, the EDF was funded outside the EU budget by EU member states based on financial payments related to specific contribution shares, or "keys". The member state contribution keys were subject to negotiation.
The public source identifies “European Development Fund” as instrument for European Union aid for development cooperation outside the EU. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around European, Development and Fund.
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This entry incorporates text from “European Development Fund” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.