ABSTRACT
The European Union (EU) aid strategy is based on the government's poverty reduction strategy and the African peer review of governance. Changes related to the global environment, European integration and EU external relations policies have all lead to ongoing pressure to further reform aid policy. The major events in European integration in the period of 2006 were the enlargements and the Lisbon Treaty on reforming the institutions. The European Commission argued that the vast number of horizontal instruments and the varying legal bases and procedures even for the primary economic aid instruments discussed affected the overall coherence and efficiency of EU aid. In regard to the new aid instruments the development cooperation instrument (DCI) and the European Development Fund (EDF) offer little new in terms of forms of aid or strategic methodology. The European neighbourhood policy (ENP) and Action Plans offers a stronger overall framework for reform within which the EU's aid can work.
