Abstract
"Some developing countries are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, climate change, environmental degradation and external economic shocks. The member States and the EU will support disaster prevention and preparedness in these countries, with a view to increase their resilience in the face of these challenges". Through this commitment included in the EU Consensus on Development in 2005, the EU decided to pay a specific attention to developmental issues in a certain type of countries: fragile States. This concept appeared in the beginning of the 1990s, with the collapse of the Somali State; however, fragile States became a specific target of world development policies only in the beginning of the twenty-first century. As a result, some developmental institutions provided various definitions regarding the fragile State concept, in order to promote adequate policies towards them. For instance, the OECD defined these States as "countries where there is a lack of political commitment and insufficient capacity to develop and implement pro-poor policies" and the World Bank associated the concept of fragile States with "countries that are facing particularly severe development challenges such as weak governance, limited administrative capacity, violence and the legacy of conflict". As far as the European Union is concerned, the first reference to fragile States was made in the EU Consensus on Development and in the Paris Declaration. As a result, it makes us wonder if the EU, within its development policy, adopted a specific policy towards fragile States. And then, what are the main features of this policy? After studying the birth of a concern towards fragile States in the European Union, we will focus on the challenges and difficulties faced by the EU in its response to State fragility.
