Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-17-Speech-4-147"
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"en.20051117.18.4-147"2
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"Mr President, I wish to make two points, and they both concern money. Every 30 seconds a child in Africa dies of malaria, and yet there are a number of actions that could put a complete stop to that. Bed nets are a low-tech method of protection from mosquitoes, but very few families have them. Great progress has recently been made in Spain on a vaccine against malaria, but at the moment Bill Gates and other private foundations are putting a great deal more money into this than international bodies. It is clear that much more can be done and that more funding would make a huge difference, so what excuse can we possibly have not to provide it?
My second point concerns an area in which the European Union actually has been spending money, and needs to continue to do so without counting the cost too closely. This is our support for democratic elections in Africa. I was in Ethiopia in May, and just recently in the Congo observing the electoral registration process. Such action does not come cheap. The total bill was EUR 242 million, with 80% of that provided by the European Union. However, this is the first step on a very long road for a country facing enormous difficulties in terms of lack of communications and lack of infrastructure. Only by putting in the funding to enable the democratic process to get off the ground can we hope to start to see some progress.
Nobody can pretend that democracy is the answer to everything, but without fair and free democratic elections many other things are simply impossible. So when we look at what we are spending where, we should think very carefully about refusing a budget to actions that are proven to make a difference."@en1
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