Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-02-18-Speech-3-249"
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"en.20090218.24.3-249"2
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"−
I, too, am pleased that Mr Deva has taken a seat, for now Mrs Ferrero-Waldner will be able to hear me, which is a great relief.
This unprecedented economic crisis, which is biting hard, spells renewed disaster for developing countries. The crisis leads to a drop in prices for raw materials, fewer investments, less trade credit and less money being sent home by immigrants. Meanwhile, the gross domestic products of all the rich countries are dwindling fast, which means that the budget for development cooperation is also being decimated as this is 0.7% of GDP, or at least that is what it is supposed to be, and even then, most countries fail to live up to their promises.
This is the context of the discussion about the new policy instrument that is being held here. If Spanish students receive a grant to study in Latin America for a few months, or vice versa, then such an exchange is useful, necessary and desirable, but a project such as this cannot be exclusively financed with funds that are intended to fight poverty. Whilst EU funding in this area is to be welcomed, it is not fighting poverty. It is frustrating to have to withdraw projects like this simply because there is no legal basis on which to back them.
That is why we have been looking for a modest instrument with which the EU can implement policy in developing countries that does not, strictly speaking, fall within the scope of fighting poverty. A financial source and a legal basis that do not come under development policy will need to be found. The legal basis cannot, therefore, lie in Article 179 of the Treaty of Nice, because that is precisely the statutory basis for development policy that should be avoided here.
The EU’s own interests – European students making study trips – may not be financed under Article 179. Moreover, the EU, when spending development funds, has to meet the criteria legally prescribed in respect of development cooperation, namely those of fighting poverty.
With a little bit of creativity, there are other sources. Extending the Industrialised Countries Instrument is an option which the Committee on Foreign Affairs has put forward and which is also backed by my own committee. What is also an option, though, is a combination of Articles 150, 151 and 170, education, culture and research. With this combined legal basis, the European Parliament would maintain complete codecision with regard to this instrument, and the money, about EUR 13 million at the moment, is not taken out of the development policy kitty. Neither is it taken out of the foreign policy kitty.
As rapporteur – and the Committee on Development will back me up on this – I cannot agree to Article 179 as the legal basis. If it was, this new instrument would become ineffective, seeing as its exact aim is to prevent development funds from being used for other purposes. There should not, therefore, be a legal basis for this instrument that could make this compulsory.
For this reason, I plead with the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats to withdraw its amendment as a matter of extreme urgency. It flies in the face of our shared desire to protect the budget for development cooperation, even in times of economic crisis."@en1
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