French and English. Sustainable Development in the European cooperation policy Jean-Marc Bellot, Pierre Jacquet and Denis Loyer 1 The concept of sustainable development 2, dedicated at the Earth Summit in Rio (1992), was built by the European Union in the Treaty of Amsterdam (1996) to strengthen, in particular, the importance of policy environment within the Union. In 1999 the Helsinki European Council invited the Commission to "develop a proposal for long-term strategy designed to ensure consistency of policies relating to a sustainable development of economically, socially and environmentally." 3 In 2001, the Gothenburg approved an internal strategy of sustainable development, but also recognized the need to expand the external dimension 4. The preparation of the Johannesburg World Summit (2002) was an opportunity to clarify the strategic components of a "global partnership for sustainable development" 5 articulated around the idea of a managed globalization (to the trade for sustainable development), the fight against poverty, promotion of social development, sustainable management of natural and environmental resources, improving policy coherence in the European Union and, finally, good governance. The "European Consensus on Development" adopted in 2006 6 reinforces the ethics of ambition with the development of the European Union. It "reaffirms the Union's commitment to eradicate poverty, to ensure ownership and partnership, to provide increased and better quality, and promote policy coherence for development. [...] The primary objective of development cooperation of the European Union is the eradication of poverty in the context of sustainable development, including efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).