In conclusions adopted on Monday 18 May at the end of a meeting held in Brussels, the European ministers responsible for development cooperation noted “with concern, the historical decline in Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the world in 2025”, as reported by the OECD (see EUROPE 13846/10).
“Development aid is really in decline, but we see that Europe remains the world’s largest donor of humanitarian and development aid”, said the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, to the press.
Strategic alignment. So, noting that the EU and its Member States accounted for 48% of global ODA last year, the ministers referred in their conclusions to “the need for the EU and its Member States to continue to set an example as ‘Team Europe’”, i.e. by coordinating the resources of the European Commission with those of the EU Member States, national agencies and development banks, and increasingly with private investors, all through the Global Gateway financing instrument.
“We want to use this instrument in a targeted way to boost investment in energy, transport and food security, strengthen resilience and prevent new dependencies” said Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Reem Alabali-Radovan.
“The future of development policies is more transactional, and we need to build win-win situations, not just give our money to charity or corruption, but work towards common benefits”, said the Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Ville Tavio.
“In a world where investment, infrastructure and supply chains have become instruments of power, foreign policy cannot be sentimental”, argued, in turn, the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jozef Síkela, while recalling several initiatives recently launched by the European Commission. These include the introduction of a Global Gateway hub to support projects by European companies, the Global Green Bond Initiative (see EUROPE 13856/9), and increased investment to combat irregular migration.
In declaring a “strategic alignment”, the EU Council nevertheless continues to encourage the Member States “to make progress towards their individual targets and to remain on a credible path towards the EU’s collective commitment” in aiming to devote 0.7% of gross national income to ODA and 0.2% to ODA to the least developed countries (LDCs) by 2030.
“The EU Council also encourages Member States to ensure that an appropriate share of their ODA, for example 10%, is devoted to humanitarian action, taking into account the increase in humanitarian needs”, noted the ministers in their conclusions.
Africa. The ministers stressed the importance of strengthening EU support for sub-Saharan Africa, which is particularly affected by hunger and fragile situations.
“There is still room for international cooperation focused on altruism”, said Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, referring to the Ebola epidemic in the Great Lakes region.
“This is a value that must continue to be supported and embodied by Europe. (...) We need to be able to work in partnership, based on mutual interests, but not be disengaged. Europe must not be allowed to leave a vacuum, including in Africa, in which case others will take over with an even more transactional approach”, added Mr Prévot.
Eastern Neighbourhood. The ministers also discussed the need to pay particular attention to strengthening stability and resilience in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods.
“We encourage the deployment of as many instruments in the European toolbox as possible for the advancement of the external action position towards the eastern neighbouring countries and we support programming that is to the benefit of Moldova, Ukraine, Western Balkans and South Caucasus countries”, said Clara-Alexandra Volintiru, Secretary of State for Institutional Relations, Cooperation and Human Rights at the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on her arrival at the meeting.
See the EU Council’s conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/lxv (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)