The new Law “General Provisions on International Development Cooperation” (Law No. 125 of 11 August 2014), definitively adopted by the Senate on 1 August 2014, came into force on 29 August 2014. On the one hand, the new Law aims to systematically update the system after 27 years since the adoption of Law 49/1987 on Development Cooperation, by organising and systematising subjects, instruments, intervention methods and reference principles that have developed in the meantime in the international community. On the other hand, it aims to adapt the Italian development cooperation system to the models prevailing in the EU partner countries. The new Law defines a new “governance” architecture of the cooperation system, the consistency and coordination of which shall be ensured through the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Development Cooperation (CICS), a coordination unit made up of the Ministries competent for matters related to the development cooperation activities.
The new Law sets the development cooperation goals in eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, reaffirming human rights and the dignity of individuals – including gender equality and equal opportunities – preventing conflicts and supporting peace processes. The adoption of a three-year Programming and Policy Document for Development Cooperation Policy is envisaged, adopted by the Council of Ministers, after obtaining the opinion of the relevant Parliamentary Committees, by 31 March of each year.
At the internal level, also through the immigrant communities present on the national territory, the development cooperation policy contributes to designing shared migration policies while, at the external level, the ownership of development processes by beneficiary countries is indicated in the new Law as one of the prerequisites for the efficacy of aid, which cannot – even indirectly – be used for military purposes. As far as the multilateral channel is concerned, the Law reaffirms the principle of harmonising national cooperation policies with those of the European Union, while, as far as the territorial partnership is concerned, it recognises the possibility for the Regions and other territorial Authorities to implement development cooperation initiatives with bodies of similar territorial representativeness. Public aid for development also includes humanitarian emergency interventions decided by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Since cooperation is defined as an “integral and significant part of foreign policy”, it is up to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, in the person of the relevant Deputy Minister, to pull the strings of this joint and consistent exercise. Even the resources, so far distributed over the chapters of different Ministries, will be easily readable through a specific Annex to the budget. Law 125/2014 also defines a new management structure, with the birth of the Italian Development Cooperation Agency (1 January 2016). The Agency, a model that exists in all major European countries, meets a need that had been strongly expressed by the cooperation players and put forward in the reform proposals of Parliamentary initiative. It permits to enhance and make the most of already existing skilled professionals and attract new ones. Finally, thanks to its greater flexibility, it makes it possible to try the most innovative cooperation methods that exist today, some of which are not regulatorily compatible with the structure identified by Law 49/1987. For the most expensive interventions (over 2 million euro), the Agency works together with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a specific Joint Committee. The three-year convention stipulated between the Minister and the Agency Director defines the methods of collaboration between MAECI and the Agency and the goals that the latter is required to achieve over the three-year period of reference.
The reform finally outlines a participatory relationship between Parliament, which exercises the functions of policy-making and control over the three-year programming document, and the National Conference, a body for discussion and consultation, which provides stability to the experience of dialogue between public and private actors.