Despite the large role that the European Union and its member states play in the disbursement of official development assistance globally, coordination among European member states in the organisation of bilateral aid programmes is limited. This further complicates the ability of the members to act in a cohesive, coordinated manner in international financial institutions that play a development role, in particular, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Coordination within the international financial institutions is further complicated by the leadership structures of both institutions, which place EU member states in voting groups which include non-European and, often, developing country members.

This project will assess the extent to which European countries coordinate their policy preferences within Bretton Woods institutions and will suggest means by which coordination could be enhanced. It looks at the nature of the coordination challenge by discussing conceptual divergence amongst European member states, as well as addressing formal problems of representation in Bretton Woods institutions.

Lauren Phillips, Andrew Rogerson, Sven Grimm (former ODI Research Fellow, now with DIE)