Brussels, 22/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 20 June, MEPs in the European Parliament's development committee chaired by Linda McAvan (S&D, UK) reiterated that European development aid is not to stem the flow of migrants and asylum seekers, but to strengthen economic, human and social development, to build the state and good governance, and to foster the rule of law in developing countries.
Mix of types. The EU Trust Fund for Africa, which was launched at the extraordinary EU-Africa migration summit in Valletta (Malta) last November and which is primarily financed by resources from the European Development Fund (EDF) outside the EU budget (see EUROPE 11429), contains the risk of diverting development assistance from its purpose, MEPs deplored, adopting the own initiative report by Ignazio Corrao (EFDD) on the implications, for development and humanitarian aid, of the special EU Trust Fund for Africa.
In the opinion of the development committee MEPs, this pitfall is indisputable, as the member states do not uphold their financial commitments on public development assistance and as the Parliament cannot exercise democratic control of spending.
“The ideas behind the Trust Fund - to pool together more resources, to act with flexibility - are good, but problems remain the same. States fail to deliver on their pledges and there is also the risk of diverting development funds. Moreover, flexibility without planning is likely to generate a lack of transparency and a non-effective use of resources. A more stringent involvement of the European Parliament can help to give an answer to some of these problems”, Corrao stated, resuming the content of the draft resolution that will be put to the vote in the September plenary session.
Transparency and fresh money in the budget. In the future, MEPs only want fresh money, drawn into the European budget, to be use to fight the migrant crisis. Stating that they were not consulted when the Trust Fund for Africa was set up, they call on the Commission to strengthen the transparency of this instrument in order to enable the Parliament to exercise its democratic scrutiny of expenditure.
Noting that in 2014 aid to the least developed countries decreased, the MEPs urge the member states to respect their official development assistance commitments in order to reach 0.7% of EU GDP collectively, without neglecting the poorest countries, which have the greatest need for assistance. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)