Brussels, 25/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - Although the EU's aid for development decreased in 2011 for the first time since 2002, the EU still contributes more than half of global ODA - official development aid - (54.1%, or 0.4% of GNI compared to 0.2% from the USA, 0.17% from Japan and 0.21% from Canada). Yet the EU will have to get stuck in to reach 0.7% of its GNI, a realistic objective in spite of the crisis, underlines the ONE 2012 Data Report, published on Monday 25 June. This annual report - the seventh of its type - dissects the development aid promises made by the donor countries check if they have been kept. Published as the EU is beginning negotiations for its 2014-2020 budget, it invites the EU27 to follow the ambitious proposal made by the Commission in 2011.
Commenting on the report, Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development, welcomed the fact that “the EU institutions rank in first position on Transparency and among the leaders in terms of aid efficiency and evaluation”. He also welcomes the fact that the EU “is the largest donor in the world” and that the report recognises “the key role of the Commission in the global fight against extreme poverty”. But he considers that there is nothing to crow about, especially because the report points the finger of blame at the EU's delay in fulfilling of its promises to Africa.
While, between 2004 and 2010, the ODA of the EU15 to sub-Saharan Africa was supposed to increase by €15.58 billion, ultimately €10.54 billion less was paid to these poorest countries on the planet. With the missing money, rickets and chronic malnutrition of more than 37 million children in the poorest countries could have been prevented, or 2 million people treated against AIDS and 15 million people against malaria, the report underlines.
Piebalgs assures that he will take account of the recommendations in the report, which recommend “further improving our work and our impact on the ground”. The ONE Data 2012 Report can be consulted online: http://www.one.org/data/ (AN/transl.fl)