Global Policy Forum

By Stefania Bianchi

Concord, an umbrella network of more than 2000 European development agencies says that progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed in 2000 to halve world poverty and improve education and health by 2015 has been "pitiful".

The NGOs are calling for aid increases that are "real, additional and focused on poverty reduction." They also oppose moves by European donors to include counter-terrorism and other such initiatives within aid programmes.

"Now, more than ever, Europe needs to get serious about tackling global poverty," Louise Hilditch, head of the Europe ActionAid alliance within CONCORD said in a statement. "Recent EU proposals to tie aid to counter- terrorist initiatives are steps in the wrong direction."

Hilditch said "the EU should deliver on its promises and send the right political signals: that we are serious about our international commitments. That injustice and poverty matter. That Europeans are willing to match their rhetoric on progressive globalisation with cash and political engagement."

The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are urging the EU to agree a timetable to increase aid budgets beyond the 2006 commitments towards the long-promised goal to set 0.7 percent of gross national income (GNI) for aid.

"Across the world 600 million children live in poverty, yet Europe spent just 0.35 percent of its wealth in 2003 on overseas aid," said Hans Zomer from Dochas, the Irish national network of development charities coordinating NGO efforts during the current Irish presidency of the EU.

The NGOs' call came as European foreign and development ministers met in Luxembourg Tuesday to debate proposals to raise the quantity and quality of European overseas development assistance (ODA).

In its report 'Translating the Monterrey Consensus into Practice' released last month, the European Commission, the EU executive, said the bloc is "on track" with the 'Barcelona commitments' of spending 0.39 percent of GNI on aid by 2006.

The Commission says EU aid budget will increase from 38.6 billion dollars (31.5 billion euros) in 2004 to 47.2 billion dollars (38.5 billion euros) in 2006. That figure would represent 0.42 percent of the EU's GNI.

But the NGOs cite the latest donor assistance committee report published last month by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a group of 30 industrialised nations, that shows that ODA levels fell in some of the EU member states in 2003.

The report shows that ODA rose substantially in Belgium to 0.61 percent of GNI, in France to 0.41 percent and in the UK to 0.34 percent. Last week the new Spanish government announced that it would double its national aid spending from 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent by March 2008.

But ODA declined in Austria by 20.7 percent, Denmark (12.8 percent), Italy (16.7 percent), Portugal (24.8 percent) and Sweden (14.1 percent). It also declined in Finland (0.2 percent), the Netherlands (1.3 percent) and Spain (4.6 percent).

Howard Mollett, EU campaigns officer with British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND), a network of about 280 NGOs, says there are a number of reasons for the shortfall.

"Aid budgets are under constant pressure from domestic priorities and the short-term, narrow vision of many decision-makers," Mollett told IPS. "Europe should increase its official development assistance because it is morally right to do so. The current EU pledge to reach 0.39 percent by 2006 could actually be described as a shift from miserly to embarrassing."

The NGOs say the European Commission must assume an increased role in promoting coherence between policies in areas such as trade and agriculture, and development commitments.

"The Commission and member states should give a higher political profile to their efforts on aid," Mollett said. "In the current international context, the EU should be sending a clear, visible signal that it backs multilateral, progressive and just solutions to the instability and emergencies which are blighting the lives of many millions less fortunate than us in the EU."

EU aid chief Poul Nielson admitted last month that efforts to make aid more effective have been slow.

"We have been talking about coordination of aid policies and procedures at the EU level since 1974," he said. "It has been 30 years of good intentions. It is high time to act on our intentions. We owe it to our partner countries to simplify development aid management and to our taxpayers to make the best of the funds available to us."

Nielson added that the Commission would table a proposal soon for the full untying of Community aid to make it more efficient.

Mollett said "political will is the key" to achieving the goals. "As Europe seeks to articulate its own voice on the global stage, increasing the quantity and effectiveness of its contribution to tackling global inequity will clearly be key."

A UN conference on progress towards the MDGs will take place next year, and the aid agencies say "Europe will be expected to assume a progressive role amongst donors."