Internationalising EU development policy

EU development policy is broad in its range of instruments and geographic scope. It is also an area of mixed competence, where the member states conduct diverse national development policies alongside the European Commission, raising the issue of policy coordination. The challenges are highlighted when it comes to international development policy as articulated by the intergovernmental international organisations (including the UN and the Bretton Woods institutions), where the European Commission has to address a dual challenge, the co-ordination of the individual member states’ development polices, and the representation of the EU in international organisations where the European Commission holds largely an observer status. In these circumstances, to what extent can the EU influence international development policy? Or, is it effectively a follower in the context of the hegemonic position of these global organisations and the dominance of neo-liberal ideas on development