26 June, 2012 - 13:10

Severe cuts in EU development aid budget

For the first time since 2002, European countries have given less in development aid. In all, fourteen countries have cut financial support to developing countries. Greece and Spain made the most drastic cutbacks. As a result, the contribution by the 27 European Union member states has been reduced by 1.5 percent to 50.86 billion euros, according to a 2011 report by the non profit organisation ONE.

Meanwhile, Italy and Germany spent more on development aid, but less than they had promised. The same goes for France, Sweden and the Netherlands.

ONE was set up by U2 singer Bono. One’s European director general, Adrian Lovett, said during the presentation of the report that cutting development aid would not help Europe out of the economic crisis. “Development aid is affordable, even for Europe. Rescuing banks costs much more than helping developing countries. But European leaders have to the political will to do so,” he said.

The European Union still has strict agreements on the level of development aid. By 2015, countries have to set aside 0.7 percent of their Gross Domestic Product for development aid. However, many countries will not be able to meet this target. Greece and Spain, both hit hard by the crisis, made huge cutbacks in their budgets between 2010 and 2011. In turn Africa is being hit hardest by the cuts in development aid.

In 2011, the Netherlands was one of four EU countries to hit the 0.7 percent target. But will it continue to do so, as development aid is under discussion in The Hague, just like it is in other political capitals. The conservative VVD has wanted to cut spending in this area for years and in mid-June the party advocated cuts to the tune of three billion euros. That would leave just 1.4 billion euros per year for developing countries.

Mr Lovett says donor countries have recently reviewed how they spend aid, “by teaming up with national funds for instance”. The Netherlands doesn’t do badly as far as that is concerned according to the ONE report. However, the Netherlands is less transparent and less efficient than the average European country. The Dutch also fail to keep check on how money is being spent.