The current country strategy papers (CSPs) for both countries under the responsibility of DG RELEX and countries under the responsibility of DG DEV will expire in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The European Commission has therefore set in motion the process of revision of the existing CSPs which will eventually – in 2006 for DG RELEX countries and 2007 for DG DEV countries – lead to the launch of the so-called “new generation of CSPs”.

In this process, the guidelines for the preparation of the new CSPs and RSPs should be the same for all partner countries. These are the Guidelines for Implementation of the Common Framework for Country Strategy Papers of May 2001 and, as the date of their publication suggests, they are the same guidelines that regulated the drafting process of the “first generation” of CSPs and RSPs.

Since these guidelines should apply to all partner countries, the general steps in the preparation of the CSPs and RSPs are also very similar for both DG Relex and DG Development countries. However, substantial differences exist regarding the so-called “Recapitulation phase”, the phase that immediately precedes the drafting of the CSPs and RSPs, and the final authorship of the CSP/RSP documents. For the sake of clarity, therefore, it is best to treat the drafting process of CSPs and RSPs of DG RELEX and of DG Development as two separate processes.