When Jutta Urpilainen of Finland was nominated to lead the European Union’s development work in 2019, the foreign aid crowd in Brussels was relieved for two reasons.
She was not from Hungary, whose anti-migration government had been rumored to be in consideration to be allocated the post. And as a former finance minister, the hope was that she would be adept at fighting her corner in funding battles, all while navigating the complex architecture of European development finance.
Now, halfway through her term, the EU commissioner for international partnerships has been in office for the approval of the bloc’s 2021-2027 external action instrument, worth €79.5 billion; the negotiation of a partnership agreement with 79 African, Caribbean, and Pacific states; an institutional “beauty contest” between the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and the launch of “Team Europe” initiatives aiming to give more coherence and visibility to the European Commission and member states’ work in Africa.