EU must increase giving to meet aid pledges

EU member states are failing to live up to their promises on aid to the world’s poor, it was claimed today.

Over 1600 non-governmental organisations from across Europe criticised European governments for "seriously inflating" their aid figures for a second year in a row.

The NGOs, united under the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development (Concord) claimed that one third of EU development assistance in 2006 did not deliver fresh resources for poor countries.

“European governments are relying on large one-off debt cancellations to Iraq and Nigeria to fatten up their figures,” said Lucy Hayes, from Eurodad, the European Network on Debt and Development.

“This is short sighted and gives the impression that they are making more money available for poverty reduction than is really the case.

“Although some European countries are moving in the right direction, most will not reach the targets they set themselves unless major improvements are made.

“Breaking aid promises prevents children from going to school and from surviving preventable diseases. Significant increases in genuine aid are needed if governments are to fulfil their commitments by 2010.”

Concord released its data on the day the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris warned that the EU will have to sharply increase giving to meet its development aid pledges.

Concord claims that in 2006 nearly 30 per cent – or €13.6bn - of overseas aid was inflated.

Of this, it says nearly €11bn reported as aid was, in fact, debt cancellation primarily for Iraq and Nigeria, while €1.6bn went on educating foreign students and €1bn was spent on housing refugees in Europe.

The EU only spent 0.30 per cent of its gross national income (GNI) on genuine aid in 2006 missing its target for the year of 0.39 per cent, it says.

Concord said Austria and France were the worst culprits for inflating their aid in 2006.

More than half of their claimed development assistance did not deliver genuine new resources for poor people.

"European governments made a pledge to substantially increase their aid but seven of the EU15 countires did not make the minimum 2006 target without inflating their aid," said Ester Asin, from Concord.

“It is indeed cause for concern that a large part of the additional assistance over the last two years consisted of debt relief,” a commission official said.

The EU has promised to lift aid to 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2010 and the UN-recommended level of 0.7 per cent by 2015.

On Wednesday, development commissioner Louis Michel is expected to say that “road maps” should be drawn up for individual countries to help close the sharp disparities which currently exist in aid donated by member states.

Michel will also suggest setting new targets on trade assistance measures such as infrastructure and customs improvements; he will also call for an increase in quality.

EU ministers will discuss his ideas in June.

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