Brussels, 14/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission can count on the Luxembourg EU Council Presidency to support the development package that it presented on Tuesday as a preparation for the EU contribution to the UN summit in New York in September, in order to speed up progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (EUROPE 8927 and 8925). Jean-Louis Schiltz, Luxembourg Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action Minister, welcomes the three communications adopted by the College at the initiative of Development Commissioner Louis Michel and more especially the proposal aimed at a higher average level of EU official development aid (ODA) at 0.56% of its gross national income by 2010, as a new intermediary target before reaching 0.7% in 2015. “If the EU and the Member States do not devote more funding to development, we shall not achieve the Millennium Goals - we shall not manage to reduce poverty in the world by half by 2015. I shall spare no effort to ensure that the development ministers of Member States adopt a new ODA target at the Council on 23 and 24 May. I am hard at work paving the way for this and I am confident that our work will have a positive outcome”, Mr Schiltz says in a press release.