Working Paper
EU Aid

What Works and Why

Over the years EU aid has been much discussed—and criticized. Besides the accusations of being old fashioned, slow and bureaucratic there is also the complexity of a close neighbourship with the EU’s foreign policy in general, trade and the eternal question for Europe of what to do as a community, and what to do as individual member states. This study cuts through this discussion by simply asking what works and why. Based on a somewhat exclusive version of participant observation the author describes the features that are distinct for EU aid and arrives at the conclusion, that thanks to a reform effort that mainstreamed EU aid these distinct features have become key assets.