Although the EU is by far the world’s largest donor of development aid, its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – which represents almost half of the EU’s budget – causes poverty and suffering in developing countries and derails the EU’s own development cooperation efforts.

The UN Millennium Campaign Founder, Eveline Herfkens, will discuss how the CAP hurts the poor and undermines development efforts, during a seminar organized by the United Nations Millennium Campaign in Brussels on 29 April.

Other outstanding experts will join the panel discussion and bring their perspective on CAP and development. Among them: Eckhard Deutscher – Chair OECD Development Assistance Committee; Alan Matthews – Director Institute of International Integration Studies; Gabriele Zimmer – MEP, Member Development Committee, European Parliament; Teresa Cavero – head of Research, Intermon Oxfam.

At a moment where the European Commission has released its Action Plan on the Millennium Development Goals - asking member states to live to their aid pledges - and where the CAP reform is going into its final year with negotiations for the new EU budget about to start, this seminar will emphasize how important it is for EU farm policies to help - not hinder - achieving important objectives such as reaching the MDGs.

A full agenda of the seminar can be found here, the promotional flyer can be found here.