Roundup: EP urges EU members to respect commitments on development aid

A resolution seeking to remind the European Union (EU) member states of their financing commitments for development aid was carried by a large majority on Tuesday in the European Parliament here, revealing a certain concern among the ranks of European parliamentarians.

"The Parliament is sending a strong political message to the Commission, to the Council, and to member states, concerning the leading role and the responsibility that the EU should play in the negotiations with the Third International Conference on Financing for Development which will be held in Addis-Ababa," declared Pedro Silva Pereira from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the EP, author of the nonbinding resolution adopted with 582 votes in favor, 79 against, and 28 abstentions.

In 2005, EU member states committed to increase their official development assistance (ODA) to 0.7 percent of their gross national income (GNI) by 2015. The member states who jointed the EU in 2004 or later are committed to reach 0.33 percent in 2015.

It is this year that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) must be reached and the ongoing global debate regarding the future following 2015 must arrive at a universal framework for the eradication of poverty and sustainable development during the September General Assembly of the United Nations (UN).

However, the official data gathered by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) made public in an April report show a fall in aid in a number of European countries.

The international context is nevertheless a trend towards growth. The aid from members of the DAC increased to 135.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, a stable figure in comparison to 2013. Since 2000, ODA has recorded a growth of 66 percent.

The relationship ODA/GNI has dropped in France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, as well as in 11 other EU member states, according to the European Commission. The Netherlands has dropped beneath the threshold of 0.7 percent of GNI dedicated to development aid, for which the deadline arrives nevertheless in 2015.

If the EU and its member states remain the provider of 50 percent of aid worldwide, "we still have ways to go to reach our ambitious objectives," said Neven Mimica, European commissioner for international cooperation and development, at the end of April.

Other voices were raised periodically, among them that of the European Parliament (EP), to deplore the lack of coherence between the common policy of development on one side, and those of other European policies on the other, notably its commercial policies accused of weakening nations in the development process.

In 2014, of the 28 members of the DAC, only five countries, namely Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Britain and Sweden, have gone beyond the UN objective of 0.7 percent of GNI dedicated to ODA. Thirteen countries have recorded an increase in their adjusted GNI, the biggest increases observed in Germany, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland.

GNI has shrunk in 15 member states of the DAC, with Australia, Canada, Spain, France, Japan, Poland and Portugal recording the most significant drops.

Since 1970, the General Assembly of the UN has decided to dedicate 0.7 percent of GNI to development aid. A will reiterated during a G8 summit at Gleneagles in 2005, where the European members of the G8 recommitted to reach the objective of 0.7 percent by 2015.

But after 10 years, the situation has not evolved much. In 2005, the countries of the DAC consecrated an average 0.32 percent of their GNI in favor of countries in development, A percentage which dropped to 0.29 percent in 2014.

Furthermore, aid to most defavorized countries, notably African countries, was in decline. For this reason, the Members of European Parliament are demanding today of member states not only to reaffirm their commitment to give 0.7 percent of their GNI to ODA, but also for 50 percent of ODA and at least 0.2 percent of GNI to be reserved for least developed countries.

ODA represents more than two thirds of external financing received by countries with the lowest levels of development. At the Third International Conference on Financing for Development and scheduled to be held in Addis-Ababa in July, the OECD will call for a larger portion of funds to be used as a lever to mobilize private investment and unlock national fiscal yields in poor countries. This conference intends to create the necessary conditions for the financing and the launching of the post-2015 agenda.

2015 is the crucial year for development efforts on the global scale, with the adoption of sustainable development objectives. Following the proposal by the European Commission, 2015 was declared the European Year of Development. Endit