Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-06-Speech-3-126"
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"en.20020206.6.3-126"2
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"Mr President, on 8 November 2001, the Council of Development Ministers urged the European Union and Member States to increase development aid. I believe that we must now take firm and visible action.
How do we go about doubling the current level of aid given by industrialised countries to achieve the required USD 50 billion a year, as recommended in several of the preparatory reports for the Monterrey conference, so that we can meet the most basic requirements of developing countries, particularly in terms of education and health?
What stage has the Commission reached in its negotiations with each Member State on a timetable to enable us to achieve the objective of 0.7%, which was set some 32 years ago? Although the attitude of the United States is placing the very existence of aid for development under serious threat, the Monterrey conference would be an opportunity for the European Union to prepare and set in motion a strict process to rigorously monitor this timetable.
There are still other avenues to be explored. Firstly, we must cancel debt and go much further than the HIPC initiative. The crisis in Argentina is an urgent reminder – as if it were needed – of the need for us to act. The world parliamentary forum, held some days ago in Porto Alegre, also recommends, by means of a resolution, that the United Nations establish an international tribunal to combat debt in order to guarantee financing for development. Furthermore, it is time to seriously consider introducing a tax on international financial transfers. Lastly, reforms in the financial system and international trade system are obviously needed in order to make them more democratic and to combat the mechanisms which cause poverty in developing countries.
Furthermore, as regards the current situation with aid, we must ensure that payments of sums are made in a swift and efficient manner as, at the end of 2000, EUR 9 billion remained in the coffers of the European Development Fund and we must also change the focus of the ODA. It is, first and foremost, private investors who find this attractive, as it helps to further develop each country’s specialist knowledge of production niches for exporting goods in terms of the requirements of the global market and not of populations. The commitments made towards developing countries must be honoured. This is a legitimate expectation of the 2.8 billion people who live on less than USD 2 per day."@en1
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