EU says will speed aid to poor countries
Bate Felix
Reuters
Apr 8, 2009
BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled plans to accelerate aid to developing countries hit hard by the economic crisis, warning that failure to act could pose a threat to global stability.
The executive arm of the European Union said it was bringing forward to 2009 nearly 4.3 billion euros ($5.82 billion) of previously earmarked funds to help poor countries fight a recession that has staunched credit flows, curtailed investment and sent a number of local currencies into a tailspin.
"Recession must not, cannot, and will not be used as an excuse for going back on our promise on aid," Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a news conference.
"This multi-faceted crisis poses a serious threat to global stability," the Commission said in a statement.
The plans do not entail adding existing aid to funds already set aside by the EU. Aid agencies welcomed some components but said it fell way short of the needs of the developing world.
The Commission will "front-load", or accelerate payment of 3 billion euros, or 72 percent of budget support to African, Pacific and Caribbean (ACP) nations and will direct at least 500 million euros to support local welfare spending.
Eight hundred million euros from an existing facility to combat hunger will also be made available this year, it said.
"We are now more than half way to the 2015 deadline for reaching the U.N. Millennium Development Goals and some of the gains achieved so far risk being forfeited, leaving poor countries worse off than before the crisis," Barroso said.
The Millennium Development Goals were agreed by 189 countries in 2000 and consist of eight targets for reducing poverty by 2015 -- including halving the number of people living on less than $1 a day.
World leaders at last week's G20 summit pledged $1.1 trillion in funds to the IMF, with $300 billion to be committed in aid to the poorest countries over the next two years.
FALLS SHORT
EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said the crisis was hitting countries with strong links to the west which had seen growth during the boom years.
"Economies that had begun to emerge would be held back because of the crisis, and there is a very real risk of migration flows increasing because of the crisis," Michel said.
Though some of the measures were welcomed, aid agencies said they fell short of what is needed, and did little to solve the problems poor countries faced as a result of EU policies such as hefty subsidies for its farm exports.
"We have not seen any useful ideas coming out of this package on how to support developing countries in dealing with climate change, on stopping tax evasion or on coping with the effects of trade policies," said Alexandre Polack, ActionAid head of European Policy and Campaigns.
The European Confederation of Development NGOs, CONCORD, said the strategy "falls far short of what is needed."
