Members of the European Parliament's Development Committee are keen to ensure that developing countries do not suffer as a result of Brexit, after the departure from the EU of a major contributor to development aid. This is reflected in the opinion that was adopted on 27 January by a very large majority (23 in favour, 2 against) on the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement.
In the letter they sent on 28 January to the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Trade (INTA) Committees, they noted the importance of the UK as a development and humanitarian aid actor, thanks to the scale of its official development assistance (even after it was cut from 0.7% to 0.5% of British GNI), its expertise, project implementation capacities and comprehensive relations with the Commonwealth and other developing countries.
They have encouraged the UK to help minimise the negative effects of Brexit on developing countries and to sustain its commitment to being at the forefront of development assistance and humanitarian aid.
They also called for close EU-UK donor coordination and cooperation to ensure the drawing on of each other's capacities so as to maximise efficiency, development effectiveness and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
See the MEPs’ letter: https://bit.ly/3tgY2y9 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)