Brussels, 02/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The MEPs of the European Parliament's development committee, meeting in Brussels on Wednesday 1 April, decided to put pressure on the EU to reconfirm, ahead of the UN conference on financing for development to be held in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia, 13-16 July), the commitment it has made jointly to allocate 0.7% of its GNI to official development assistance (ODA) by 2015. The MEPs also want to know what the European Commission and the Council of the EU intend to do to ensure that this commitment is respected.
Two oral questions on the same text - one addressed to the European Commission, the other to the Council of the EU - were approved by a large majority (15 votes in favour, one vote against), on Wednesday 1 April. These will be put to the two institutions at the April plenary session (27-30 April) of the Parliament. The parliamentary committee points out that in 2005, the member states made a commitment to earmark 0.7% of their GNI to ODA by 2015, that in 2013, just four member states had met this target and that the EU as a whole devotes just 0.43% of its GNI to ODA. (Aminata Niang)