On Tuesday 17 June, Members of the European Parliament rejected by 340 votes to 282 with 26 abstentions the draft report by Charles Goerens (Renew Europe, Luxembourger) on financing for development, prepared ahead of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (‘FfD4’). The draft report was approved by the Committee on Development (DEVE) on 20 May (see EUROPE 13644/31), but more than 150 Christian Democrat MEPs from the EPP group blocked the text during the plenary vote.
The tone of the final text has been overhauled, according to the EPP group’s shadow rapporteur, Niels Geuking (German). “New priorities were set, including many points on which we had made it clear several times during the negotiations that these positions were unacceptable to the EPP”, he told Agence Europe after the vote.
“I could not accept this report became a platform for ideological demands”, he added.
The rejection of the text has caused tension within the European Parliament’s pro-European majority, with several centre-left MEPs citing an axiological break with the EPP.
“This is a disaster for the European Union at a time when the United States has written off $60 billion in development aid”, Mr Goerens told Agence Europe, denouncing the EPP’s “irresponsibility” and a “betrayal” of the EU’s historic values on development cooperation.
“By voting against, the EPP aligns with anti-European forces and undermines the EU’s global credibility and responsibility”, the Social Democrat group said in a statement.
“The Seville Conference is a key moment for relaunching global development financing and demonstrating the EU’s leadership. (...) The report emphasised that EU development policy must be oriented towards the needs of the people in the partner countries involved, and consistently aligned with the principles of the United Nations Agenda 2030”, regretted Marit Maij (S&D, Dutch).
FfD4 will be held in Seville from 30 June to 3 July.
To see the detailed results of roll-call votes on the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/hd9 (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)