Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-22-Speech-4-046"
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"en.20080522.7.4-046"2
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"Mr President, I would like to thank Johan Van Hecke for a good and important report. Once upon a time I went into politics to see to it that my country, Sweden, would achieve the ‘one per cent target’. The Liberal Party of Sweden – my party in the national context – is and has always been a driving force in this action, and Sweden actually achieves the target.
Now nearly 40 years on, however, I have to recognise that there have been many disappointments. Maladministration, corruption and failed projects have unfortunately been common. But development has often also proceeded in the right direction. Millions of people the world over have been given better lives and many democracies have been established. There is indeed room for optimism. But if legitimacy and support among the EU population are to continue to be strong, we must improve our ability to act fast and effectively. Aid must be deployed in a way which guarantees quality and long-range benefit so that we can attain the millennium goals.
Besides, aid policy must be formulated more from the bottom up. Those countries which receive aid must be entrusted with greater responsibility for what we might call the problem-stating prerogative in aid work. There are plenty of indications, according to the Commission, to show that poor countries are forced to create more expensive bureaucracy in order to facilitate the administration which is a condition for the aid money to be disbursed. That was not the intention! It is also very important to talk more about how we should coordinate aid efforts. Another perspective which can and must not be forgotten is the important role of women in combating poverty.
To criticise how the requirements are formulated today does not mean that we need not oppose the imposition of conditions for the aid. Listening to what people on the ground have to say also implies that we should venture to consider classifying certain military contributions as aid, since peacekeeping operations can be vital. Take the situation in Chad, for example, where refugees need protection just as much as shipments of aid.
Finally I want to address the sensitive question of our agricultural policy, which Mrs Auken mentioned. In the report, the Commission and the Member States are urged to support any measures which can contribute to stabilising raw material prices for the developing countries. Here I have a suggestion in line with what Margrete Auken was saying: an effective, but perhaps also bitter medicine – scrap the EU’s agricultural policy! Indeed the Commission has already made a start on that, which is to be welcomed."@en1
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