By Ruth Marsden - 6th April 2011
Aid budgets still represent less than one per cent of national GNI and must be increased if we are to meet our ambitious goals for 2015
Andris Piebalgs
Development agencies have warned that the majority of member states are depriving poor countries of €14.5bn worth of life saving aid.
According to Oxfam, the latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European commission show that the EU has failed to reach its interim target of spending 0.56 per cent of national income on aid in 2010.
Overseas development aid (ODA) reached what the OECD describes as a "historic high", but the charity said member states have only reached 0.43 per cent of their spending commitment, leaving a €14.5bn shortfall.
Nicolas Mombrial, an EU policy advisor for Oxfam international, said, "Europe has missed this year's aid target, having barely increased aid and lining up big cuts for the next few years.
"The leaders of the governments that have failed to stick to their promises must come to the table at the EU summit in June to explain how they are going to get their aid commitment back on the right path," he warned.
The commission has insisted that the EU remains committed to achieving the goal of spending 0.7 per cent of GDP on aid by 2015.
Presenting the 2010 figures on official development aid on Wednesday, European development commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the EU remains by far "the leading world donor".
Piebalgs said, "Aid budgets still represent less than one per cent of national GNI and must be increased if we are to meet our ambitious goals for 2015.
"But efficient aid is not only about money. We must also improve the delivery and quality of the aid we provide. Aid is a smart investment for the future."
European NGO network Action for Global Health (AfGH) said that aid from the OECD's development assistance committee rose by 6.5 per cent in 2010.
However, it added that this is still short of the 0.7 per cent target required by member states to reach the 2015 millennium development goals (MDGs).
Monika Kosinska, secretary general of the European public health alliance welcomed the overall rise in aid, but said, "The challenge is now to deliver promised levels."
"EU member states need to realise that if we are to reach the MDGs we should get serious about our ODA commitments, because if we don't do it now it will be too late to achieve the MDGs by 2015," she added.
