February 14, 2006
The European Parliament,
- having regard to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the UN High Level Event reviewing progress towards the MDGs held in September 2005; (PES)
- having regard to the Landau Report on "New International Financial Contributions for Development", commissioned in November 2003 by President Chirac; (ALDE)
- having regard to the "New York Declaration on Action Against Hunger and Poverty" signed by over 120 countries during the General Assembly of the United Nations of 2004 (GUE)
- having regard to the proposal for an International Finance Facility (IFF), which could double the amount of development aid, put forward by UK Chancellor Gordon Brown; (ALDE) - having regard to the solidarity contribution on French plane tickets, which will enter into force on 1 July 2006 ; (ALDE)
- having regard to the Commission's paper on an analysis of a possible contribution based on airline tickets as a new source of financing of development; (ALDE)
- having regard to the "Declaration on Innovative Sources of Financing Development" signed by 79 Governments prior to the UN High Level Event on the Review of the Millennium Development Goals, September 2005 (Greens)
A. whereas sound development policies, sustained by substantial and effective development aid, are crucial to break the spiral of poverty and give developing countries the means to release their economic potential; (ALDE mod.)
B. whereas no amount of development aid will ever break the cycle of poverty in developing countries until they have sufficient capacity to absorb the aid, implement good governance and fight corruption; (EPP-B)
C. whereas the Millennium Development Goals Progress Report 2005 provides clear evidence that the objective of helping poor countries achieve the MDGs by the target year of 2015 cannot be achieved unless additional political and financial commitments are made in terms of quantity as well as quality of aid; (EPP-C)
D. whereas the "New York Declaration on Action Against Hunger and Poverty" calls upon the Governments of developed countries to make concrete commitments in the financing of the MDGs; (PES, Greens, GUE mod.)
E. whereas any innovative mechanisms must add to current levels of Official Development Aid (ODA), in order that they bring real added value to the financing of development; whereas EU Member States must stay firm on their commitment to devote 0,7% of their GNI to ODA and must adopt a time plan to achieve this target by 2015; (PES, Greens, GUE mod.)
F. Whereas the World Bank estimates that at least $50 billion extra per year in Official Development Assistance (ODA) will be required to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015; (PES mod.)
G. whereas the contributions to the World Fund for the fight against Aids, Tuberculosis and Paludism got less than 15% of the money needed; (GUE mod.)
H. Whereas the lack of stability and predictability in aid and financing for developing countries has been a major impediment in the fight against poverty; whereas secure funding is essential particularly for funding key public services, such as health and education; (PES)
I. Whereas the International Finance Facility for Immunisation proposed by the UK has been internationally endorsed , supporting underused vaccines in over 70 countries as well as strengthening immunisation delivery systems; (PES; correction by Greens)
1. Welcomes the Conference in Paris to be held on 28 February - 1 March, which seeks to make progress on the agreement of international levies, with a particular focus on a possible levy on airline tickets; (PES)
2. Insists that any alternative methods of financing for development must bring new, additional funds for development and must not replace Official Development Assistance (ODA); (PES 2 mod.) 3. Warmly welcomes the Council agreement reached in June 2005 to double EU aid to developing countries and for Member States to increase their Official Development Assistance in order to achieve 0.56 % of GNI by 2010 and 0.7 % of GNI by 2015; (EPP-1)
4. Welcomes the renewed commitments by the international community at the UN World Summit of 14-16 September 2005 to achieving the MDGs and to promoting sustainable development; regrets the lack of a precise timetable committing all developed countries to the pursuit of the intermediate and final MDG targets; (ALDE, EPP 2)
5. Calls on developed countries to fulfil their obligations and meet their commitment to increase national aid budgets to 0.7% of GDP and considers that the search for innovative forms of financing should not replace this real priority; (EPP 3, ALDE)
6. Stresses that an increase in quantity has to go hand in hand with an increase in quality, i.e. the effectiveness of aid has to be improved through the 3 C's – coordination, complementarity, coherence - , as well as by reducing transaction costs of aid, improving the predictability and sustainability of aid mechanisms, increasing speed and delivery of aid, further untying aid, finding solutions to unsustainable debt burdens, promoting good governance and combating corruption and by increasing the absorption capacity of aid recipients; (EPP-4)
7. Welcomes the idea of a pilot-project of a solidarity contribution on air tickets to finance the fight against HIV/AIDS and other pandemics and to help achieve the MDGs; welcomes also the prospect of making development finance more stable and predictable; (PES, Greens, GUE)
8. Calls on the Member States to actively participate in the forthcoming Paris Conference and to seriously consider taking up this initiative; recognises, however, that matters of taxation not subject to EU harmonisation policy, remain under the exclusive competence of Member States; (new)
9. Welcomes the participation of the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden who have together pledged in excess of $4bn for the International Finance Facility for Immunisation which will be used to support and increase the work of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI); urges other EU Member States to contribute to the IFFIm; (PES mod.)
10. Welcomes, in the context of innovative financing, the newly announced launching of a Commission-European Investment Bank Trust Fund to finance African infrastructure; calls for an increase in the lending activities of the EIB in developing countries; (EPP 8, ALDE) 11. Asks the EU institutions and governments to examine thoroughly the feasibility of a world lottery to fund actions to combat hunger, as proposed by the World Food Programme in the form of the Food project; (PES)
12. Underlines that the full support of European citizens, in the context of an extremely tense budgetary situation, is required, and that any new initiative must be managed cautiously so as not to prejudice the acceptance by European public opinion of development policy objectives; (EPP-5 mod.)
13. Asks the President of the Parliament to forward this resolution to the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, all EU Heads of State, the UN Secretary-General and the UN Special Envoy on the MDGs, the World Bank and the OECD secretariat.
