Call for authors: The Future of ODA in the EU’s External Relations Budget

Background

In 2025, the global volume of Official Development Assistance (ODA) dropped by 23.1% in real terms, which was the largest annual decline ever recorded. While much of this collapse was due to the shutdown of USAID, the trend is not confined to the United States: against a backdrop of tightening budgets and shifting geopolitical and geo-economic priorities, a growing number of donor countries are scaling back their development budgets. 

The traditional rationales for development cooperation balancing goals such as solidarity, promotion of global public goods and donor’s own economic and political interests are more and more shifting towards donor’s strategic interests. 

Safeguarding social democratic priorities in the EU's development policy

While the EU and its Member States are still the world largest donors, European development cooperation itself is being reshaped by a more contested and complex global landscape. Security, migration and geo-economic considerations are therefore exerting a growing influence over EU’s development budget and design. The Global Europe Instrument – the financial envelope for the Union’s external action under the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – stipulates that 90% of the proposed budget should still fulfil ODA criteria. 

However, this commitment conflicts with mounting political pressure for EU's external action to serve the Union's broader strategic interests leading to increasing tensions between the Treaty-based obligation of poverty reduction and the “geopoliticisation” of development cooperation.  

The proposed policy brief will examine why social democratic priorities, such as solidarity, multilateralism, poverty reduction, and global justice, should be safeguarded within this changing funding and political environment, and what this implies for the EU's development policy in the next MFF period.

1 | Objectives and guiding questions

• Mapping: How does the NDICI–Global Europe perform with regard to ODA? 
• Assessment: How does the Global Europe draft measure up against ODA objectives and spending commitments — and what shifts does it already signal? 
• A progressive point of view: Why does it serve the EU's own interest to maintain ODA levels? 
• What could a coherent EU approach look like that aligns ODA goals and spending with the Union's other strategic interests, rather than subordinating one to the other? 
• Recommendations: Why should ODA remain a cornerstone of EU development policy — including how ODA positively influences other external-relations priorities of the EU (e.g. migration, security, trade, global governance)? 
• Recommendations: What strategies can safeguard a strong ODA dimension in the next MFF and the Global Europe Instrument?

2 | Submission Guidelines

• Format: 
• The policy brief should have between 4000- and 5000 words; excluding bibliography.
• Contributions should take the form of policy brief addressing the objectives outlined above. 
• The brief should be clearly structured, evidence-based, and tailored to a Brussels-based policy readership, offering concrete conclusions and policy recommendations.
• Language: English
• Abstract / Outline: 
• Applicants are welcome to submit proposals on questions that deviate slightly from the above list but logically fall within the overarching question. 
• Interested authors should submit an outline (in English) of 1-2 pages and a short CV highlighting relevant expertise by 7 October 2026 to Alessia Gonfroid (Alessia.Gonfroid(at)enop.eu) and Daniela Iller (daniela.iller(at)fes.de).
• Timeline: 
  • Submission of an extended outline including core arguments/ observations: 18 October 2026
  • Submission of the final draft: 15 November 2026
  • Final publication: 4 December 2026
• Remuneration: 2.500- 3.500€ (net)