While welcoming the European Parliament vote on the draft 2018 budget, translating MEPs’ support into an increase in funding for humanitarian and development aid, development NGOs called on Wednesday 25 October, for the increase in development aid to be used to help those most in need and not to tackle migration into the EU.
In a joint press release, ONE, Save the Children, Oxfam and Plan International welcome MEPs’ rejection of the Commission’s proposal, which had suggested a 6.7% reduction in development aid in Heading 4 of the “Europe in the World” budget (removing €232 million), and their choice to make poverty eradication a priority.
They are concerned, nonetheless, that Heading 4 is prioritising migration control and protecting the EU’s borders, rather than poverty eradication. This, they say, is in contradiction of the EU treaties which state that poverty reduction and eradication should be the primary objectives of development cooperation.
Hailing the “vision and commitment” shown by Parliament in increasing funding for development and humanitarian aid and especially for “crucial education programmes”, Valentina Barbagallo, Brussels Policy and Advocacy Manager at the NGO ONE which campaigns against extreme poverty, calls on member states to “back these indispensable increases”, especially for young Africans.
Hilary Jeune, Oxfam’s lead policy adviser on development cooperation, says that “the money given to fighting poverty, where it is most needed, is merely crumbs next to the cake given to promoting the EU’s race to stop migration”. She urges member states to ensure that the budget “is not reduced to shoring up ‘Fortress Europe’, but instead defend Europe’s role as the world leader in development”.
Rather than following the position taken by the Commission, the Parliament took the line set out in the proposal from its budgets committee to increase external spending by €232 million, with €12.5 for human development, €12.5 million for food security, nutrition and agriculture, and €38.1 million for humanitarian aid (€10 million of which should be ring-fenced for education). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)