Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-16-Speech-4-021"
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"en.20020516.1.4-021"2
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"Mr President, the concept of sustainable development is first and foremost the expression of an accurate instinct, that there are fundamental balances at global level that have to be respected. Nevertheless, we need to beware of this concept being hijacked and used with overweening ideological verbosity, encroaching on new areas and being intoned in support of questionable technical proposals. The extreme diversity of the areas of activity addressed in the Lannoye report underlines this risk of distraction.
In fact, if it is to be put into practice, the notion of sustainable development has to be applied to clearly identified priorities. The first of these would appear to me to be the need – which the rapporteur stresses – not to resign ourselves to the persistence and indeed the increase in poverty, the eradication of which must remain an absolute and constant priority in our work.
To this end, we need to contribute to striking a healthy balance between public aid, which remains essential, and developing international trade, which must not be systematically caricatured as a scarecrow. Obviously, there is no question of considering ODA as a substitute for international trade, but as a necessary addition to it. Current circumstances do not in any case allow the latter to be a catalyst for development on its own, for the very simple reason that we cannot pit economies and states in competition against each other when they have completely different structures in terms of production costs.
It is absolutely vital to avoid perverse scenarios, such as food-producing crops disappearing because of cheap imports of agricultural products and, as a corollary to this, developing countries gearing themselves up to export cash crops – which do not foster local development – or raw materials, which are an unreliable basis for sustainable development because of the huge variations in price.
If we consider it essential not to rely solely on the workings of international trade to reduce poverty, then it is vital to halt the cuts in ODA. Here, the countries of Europe have a particular task to fulfil, both together and separately. The Member States need to resist the temptation of relying exclusively on Community aid and abandoning bilateral cooperation, as the distinctive contribution and specific expertise provided under these auspices are of irreplaceable value. It is not enough, however, to halt the decline in ODA by respecting global guidelines on rate rises. It is essential to redirect this aid towards reinforcing national State structures in developing countries, which in many cases are still fragile, and towards developing the rural world, which has to be a top priority. Public money has a decisive role to play in halting the scourge of the rural exodus and people's descent into poverty when they reach the large cities, which leads to their emigrating out of despair.
Developing food crops and fundamental public services, particularly in the areas of health, education and social protection, is the most likely way that poverty will be reduced because it will create jobs in rural areas. When disbursing public aid, we need to recognise the particular role played by decentralised cooperation, organised through local authorities such as districts, counties and regions. These authorities have local expertise, they tailor projects to real needs, they ensure that they are monitored rigorously and they foster warm and lasting relationships between the people of the North and South. This form of cooperation should be strongly encouraged.
Of all of the issues mentioned in the Lannoye report, Mr President, these are what I believe our priorities should be if we are to ensure that the concept of sustainable development makes a genuine contribution to poverty reduction in the world today."@en1
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