The European Union countries, including Estonia, are not fulfilling their development obligations and are thereby threatening the international agreement to reach Millennium Development Goals. Such is the conclusion of the report that was published on the 10th of June by the confederation CONCORD which deals with organizations that work on European development cooperation.
The report that was prepared under the initiative of AidWatch "Penalty kick against poverty: more and better EU aid would help achieve the Millennium Development Goals" was published just before the EU leaders meeting at Brussels next week, where the EU positions for the UN court on Millennium Development Goals, that is held in September in New York, are agreed upon.
The report shows that in 2009 the development aid by EU was 0,42% of Gross National Income (GNI), which is 1 billion EUR less than the previous year. The official estimated account for 2010 would be 0,46% from GNI, which is much less than the Member States agreed upon in 2005 (0,56% from GNI). In real terms this translates to a reduction of 11 billion EUR in the amount of aid. Among the major offenders are Italy (4,5 billion EUR), Germany (6,2 billion EUR) and France (800 million EUR).
AidWatch Annual Report notes that there is still a high proportion of artificially inflated amounts of aid. In 2009 it accounted 8% of total EU development aid (3,8 billion EUR). These include balancing of the external debt relief (1,4 billion EUR), support for students from developing countries in Europe (1,5 billion EUR) and expenditure on refugees living in the EU (0,9 billion EUR). In follows that, in reality the EU development aid was only 0,38% of EU GNI last year.
CONCORD, the representative of more than 1600 citizens associations in Europe calls on EUs national governments to adhere to its commitment to increase and enhance Official development assistance (ODA). EU Member States are required to submit binding timetables, showing how to reach the fulfillment of promises, and list the sources where they are going to find resources for this. Countries need to put people in developing countries and their rights to the center of development cooperation.
The representative of Estonian Communities (the Development Cooperation Roundtable) believes that on the just in March elected new members of the Estonian Council have a responsibility to ensure compliance with the obligations of Estonia. Before the elections, the Development Cooperation Roundtable will also submit to all political parties the corresponding practical suggestions.
"In 2005 the EU leaders pledged to spend 0,7% of its countries Gross National Product (GNP) to fight global poverty, but five years later, the states are far from the outcome and retreated of their commitments on aid effectiveness, "said the recognized international relief organizations AictionAid Nigeria's departments President Hussaini Abdu. "We do not expect an increase in commitment, but respect for commitments already given to both the volume and quality of aid," he added.
The report can be read at http://www.terveilm.net/uploads/files/AidWatch-report-2010.pdf .
Additional Information:
Evelin Andrespok, Development Cooperation Roundtable, +372 5346 5256, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Alessandro Bozzini, CONCORD, +32472346311, Alessandro.Bozzini @ concordeurope.org
CONCORD is connecting 1600 European civil society organizations engaging to development cooperation and humanitarian aid. Estonia's civil society organizations are represented by the Development Cooperation Roundtable.
AidWatch is CONCORDs work group, which aims to monitor the activities of the EU Member States and the European Commission's development cooperations financing and aid effectiveness.
