European Union doubles aid for world's poor by UN News / The Guardian / Oxfam International 11:32am 25th May, 2005   25 May 2005    UN welcomes European agreement on increased development aid. (UN News)    Top United Nations officials today praised the European Union's agreement to substantially boost its official development assistance (ODA) over the next decade, with half of the increase going to Africa.    A spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a statement released in New York, said, "The Secretary-General notes that the EU decisions are well in line with the recommendations in his report 'In Larger Freedom,' and that they send a valuable message about the importance the EU attaches to the global partnership for development."    That 50 per cent of the EU's agreed ODA increase will go to Africa "will make a real difference for millions of people on the continent, and provide a significant boost to efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015," the spokesman added.    The statement said that all Member States which joined the EU before 2002 will reach the 0.7 per cent target for ODA as a percentage of gross national income by 2015, with an intermediate target of 0.51 per cent by 2010. Member States which joined the EU after 2002 will reach a 0.33 per cent target by 2015, with an intermediate target of 0.17 per cent by 2010.    According to the statement, the Secretary-General also praised the EU's agreements on debt relief, targets for improving aid effectiveness and the Doha trade negotiations.    In a separate statement today, Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), welcomed the agreement, calling it "an extraordinary advance for the development community.. As we approach the 2005 UN Summit in September," he added, "it's clear that there are real opportunities, choices and momentum to take the necessary decisions and reforms that can break the back of extreme poverty once and for all."    25.5.2005. (SBS World News)    The European Union has agreed to boost its aid to the developing world over the next five years, reinforcing Europe's role as a leading donor.    At a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels, the 25-nation bloc agreed to bring EU aid from €46billion euros in 2006 to €66billion in 2010.    "I consider this to be an essential development, an extremely important advance in international solidarity," said Luxembourg development minister Jean-Louis Schiltz, whose country currently holds the EU's presidency. “Europe has shown today that international solidarity is not an empty phrase."    The EU's 15 older, and richest, member states are to make up the bulk of the effort to reach the objective with a commitment to raise development aid to 0.51 percent of GDP in 2010. The other 10 countries that joined the EU in May 2004, agreed to try to reach a target of 0.17 percent of GDP in 2010.    EU members were looking to reach an agreement on development aid targets in preparation for a meeting at the United Nations in New York on September 14-16. EU development commissioner Louis Michel said the deal "positions the European Union as the veritable global leader in development policy ahead of the high level meeting in New York."    The targets are part of the EU's contribution to meeting the millennium development goals, which were adopted by the international community in 2000 and relaunched by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in March.    Welcoming the agreement as a "breakthrough", British development secretary Hilary Benn said "This is a landmark in international efforts to make faster progress towards the millennium development goals."    The UN Millennium Summit in 2000, the largest-ever gathering of world leaders, adopted eight goals to be met by 2015 with the aim of eventually eradicating poverty, hunger and disease.    25 May 2005    "EU doubles aid for world's poor". (Mail & Guardian)    European Union ministers on Tuesday night surprised and delighted aid agencies around the world when they agreed a dramatic increase in help to countries in Africa and the rest of the developing world that will see the EU's richest states reach the United Nations' historic goal of giving 0,7% of national income in aid by 2015.    The move, which came just six weeks ahead of the G8 industrial nations' summit at Gleneagles, will mean a virtual doubling of the EU's combined aid by 2010, when the rich 15 all pass the 0,51% mark.    The unexpected success in Brussels will intensify pressure on other rich countries, notably the United States, to increase their own efforts to "make poverty history". It will also raise hopes that the pro-development partnership between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown will end on a high note, not with the damp squib many critics have feared.    That would allow Blair to resign - almost certainly in Brown's favour - with a popular element of his international career vindicated at a time when his dreams of European integration have, at best, stalled and his interventionism in Iraq and elsewhere remains mired in controversy.    The Treasury said on Tuesday night that if all 25 EU member states meet the series of parallel pledges and some go beyond them, as they plan to do, EU collective aid to developing countries, including Africa, will rise from $40-billion (£22-billion, R262-billion) this year to $80-billion in 2010.    It prompted rare unanimity from aid agencies like Oxfam and Christian Aid, as well as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. They all praised what Tory spokesperson, Andrew Mitchell, called "a significant move in the right direction".    Brown, and the international development secretary, Hilary Benn, who took part in the negotiation, also welcomed what Benn called "a major breakthrough in the fight against international poverty".    But the deal's potential significance lies in its impact on other countries. "It's really fantastic, it could have been better, but it's a very generous deal that lays down the gauntlet to the United States and Japan. We were desperate for such an injection of cash into the poker game they are all playing," said a spokesperson for Oxfam.    The small print of Tuesday's agreement saw the EU's 10 new members, mostly smaller and poorer, pledge themselves to meet a parallel target of 0,17% of gross national product in aid by 2010 and 0,33% by 2015 - a major shift for countries which were recipients until recently.    In Brussels, Louis Michel, the EU's development commissioner, told reporters: "If we lead the way, if we show that we are committed and ambitious to this extent, then other international partners will be obliged, I think, to follow suit and mobilise additional resources."    In London Brown spoke of a "once in a lifetime opportunity to make a huge difference", but warned that it must be followed through at international meetings on aid, debt relief and fairer trade.    With France and Holland facing no votes in their referendums on the EU Constitution, and Italy and Germany gripped by domestic political crises, he and Tony Blair are trying to galvanise more support.    Italy, Germany and Portugal issued statements in Brussels warning that their budget problems may hit EU borrowing limits and stop them meeting the target. EU officials made light of the problem.    As G8 and EU president this year, Blair is also flying to both the US and Russia to try to drum up support. The US aid programme is notoriously modest, only 0,16% of GNP in 2004, though Washington insists that it bears its share of international burdens.    Four EU states - Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg - have already met the 2015 target of 0,7%, a UN goal since 1970. Six other member states - Finland, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany and Britain - have promised to reach it before 2015.    "This sends a powerful message to the world," said Benn. But some aid campaigners were less convinced. "If Gordon Brown thinks doubling aid will end poverty he has been reading the wrong literature," said Jonathan Glennie, of Christian Aid. He demanded that European nations reduced the demands which come with aid.    Other aid experts called for reforms of governance in African countries to ensure money is spent beneficially.    © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005.    Brussels, May 24, 2005 (Oxfam International)    European Union countries agreed on Tuesday to increase aid spending to meet the Millenuim Development Goals (MDGs). EU development ministers endorsed proposals from the European Commission to boost aid to meet the goal of spending 0.7 percent of gross national income in official development aid in 10 years' time by setting an interim target. The bloc's 15 old member states agreed to spend at least 0.51 percent of gross national income (GNI) on aid by 2010 and at least 0.7 percent by 2015.    "Today's landmark agreement could inject up to 40 billion dollars extra in the fight against poverty and saves millions of lives," said Jo Leadbeater, Oxfam's Head of Advocacy. "The EU's commitment to reach 0.7% by 2015 throws down the gauntlet to the US, Japan and Canada just weeks before crucial G8 meetings.    "The EU's bold announcement leaves the US with nowhere to hide. If they fail to step up to the mark and pay their share they will be responsible for derailing an historic deal on aid that would help lift millions out of poverty.    Global Call to Action against Poverty spokesperson, Kumi Naidoo, noted that more still needs to be done. "However, the EU can still go further and all eyes are now on the EU Finance Ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg on June 07. We want them to strengthen today’s deal and show even more ambition to make poverty history. GCAP is specifically calling for EU member states to honor their commitments to reach the 0.7% target and agree binding timetables to actually meeting this objective.”    On Germany announcing that they commit to reach 0.70% by 2015, Naidoo continued, “Whilst we welcome Germany’s announcement to commit to the 0.70% target, we are now looking forward to hearing from Finance Minister Hans Eichel and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on how Germany is planning to move forward on this. Firm action must follow public commitments.”    Note to Editors    The Global Call to Action against Poverty is a world-wide alliance committed to pushing world leaders to live up to their promises, and to make a breakthrough on poverty in 2005. The campaign is calling on world leaders to fulfil their commitments on trade justice, more and better aid, and full debt cancellation. It is also demanding transparency and accountability from all governments in their plans to eliminate poverty and reach the Millennium Development Goals.    The alliance includes charities, trade unions, faith groups, and grassroots movements active in over 70 countries across the world. Together Global Call to Action against Poverty members represent well over 150 million people. Well-known supporters of the campaign include Nelson Mandela, Bono, Claudia Schiffer, Desmond Tutu, and Scarlett Johansson.    The Millennium Development Goals are a commitment by global leaders to halve poverty and hunger, provide education for all, improve standards of health, halt the spread of major diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and slow down environmental degradation by 2015.
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