Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

EU short $19bn on development pledges

Western European countries are skipping out to the tune of $19 billion (€14bn) on the aid pledges they made to developing countries five years ago at a landmark G8 meeting, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Aid to poor countries in 2010 will be lower than donors promised five years ago at the 2005 Group of Eight meeting in Scotland - largely as a result of the economic crisis, says a report published on Tuesday by the OECD, the international club of wealthy countries.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • The OECD spent $4.1 trillion on bailouts during the economic crisis and €107 billion on development aid in 2010 (Photo: Notat)

With national budgets squeezed in the wake of the crash, many governments believe that charity begins at home, resulting in a shortfall of $21 billion (€15bn) from OECD nations.

According to the OECE review of 2010 aid budget plans, donors are to disburse $107 billion (€78bn) this year (in 2004 dollars), instead of the $128 billion (€93bn) committed in 2005.

Some $19 billion of the overall shortfall will come from the EU15 - the old, wealthier member states that made the original pledges.

At the time, all EU15 states committed to achieve a minimum level of overseas development assistance (ODA) of 0.51 percent of the gross national income (GNI).

A number of EU countries actually far surpassed this goal: Sweden, for its part, has the world's highest ODA, reaching a full 1.03 percent of GNI.

Luxembourg is just pipped by Sweden, but it also manages a full percentage point of GNI in aid delivery (1%), followed by Denmark (0.83%), the Netherlands (0.8%), Belgium (0.7%), the United Kingdom (0.56%), Finland (0.55%), Ireland (0.51%) and Spain (0.51%) - all of which meet or exceed their 2005 commitment.

Other states however have welched on the pledges: France will achieve 0.46 percent of GNI, and Germany 0.40 percent. Rounding out the bottom are Austria (0.37%), Portugal (0.34%), Greece (0.21%), and Italy (0.19%).

While this is disappointing, development NGOs point out that the EU states gave themselves much more ambitious targets in 2005 than other OECD members.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said of the shortfall: "Some have set the bar very low and others are failing to meet their international pledges. As we head into new rounds of discussions about funding climate change and food security concerns, I encourage all donors to carry through on their development promises."

Catherine Ray, the European Commission's development spokeswoman, told EUobserver: "We have to remember that many countries have been put in a difficult situation by the economic crisis, but the EU already commits 60 percent of total global aid."

"Nevertheless, the commission will continue to push member states not to decrease or backtrack on their commitments."

Aid agency Oxfam described the result "a scandal."

"Rich countries have no excuse for failing to deliver the aid increases they promised five years ago at Gleneagles," said Oxfam's Max Lawson.

In comparison, OECD countries have spent $4.1 trillion bailing out financial institutions and major industries threatened by the economic crisis, according to a tally by the Institute for Policy Studies, a US-based centre-left think-tank.

EU supply chain law fails, with 14 states failing to back it

Member states failed on Wednesday to agree to the EU's long-awaited Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence Directive, after 13 EU ambassadors declared abstention and one, Sweden, expressed opposition (there was no formal vote), EUobserver has learned.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us