WRITTEN QUESTION E-2876/00

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(13 September 2000)

Subject: The EU and world poverty

In July 2000 the so-called G8 met in Japan, with the participation of the presidents or prime ministers of the EU's wealthiest Member States and the President of the Commission. At this summit a resolution was passed calling for accelerated debt relief for the poorest countries, to the sum of 111 billion, and for the more effective targeting of public aid to those countries. The governments present also undertook to mobilise investment to combat fatal infectious diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the least developed countries. The representatives of the eight governments also recognised that the economic prosperity of the richest countries over recent decades has been accompanied by poverty and injustice in many parts of the world. This is confirmed by the statistics and analyses of the World Bank, which show that some one billion people in the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia monopolise 80 % of the world's annual income, while 57 % of the world's population have only 6 %. This resolution was accompanied by solemn declarations to similar effect by the presidents of the EU Member States present, including the French President Jacques Chirac, who currently presides the European Council.

In view of the above, what concrete measures does the EU intend to take to act on these agreements and declarations of intent and ensure that they do not remain a dead letter, as is, unfortunately, generally the case?

Reply

(22 December 2000)

The struggle to combat poverty is at the heart of the EU's considerable efforts in development cooperation. The particular preoccupations of the international community highlighted by the Honourable Member are fully shared by the EU. Through the various means open to it, the Council is taking action to ensure that these concerns are translated into activities with concrete impact, addressing long-term structural issues which will determine future prosperity, while also alleviating in the short term the hardship of the lives of many people in the developing world.

At its meeting on 10 November 2000, having examined a Communication from the Commission on the European Community's Development Policy, the Council agreed on a joint statement with the Commission setting out the parameters for a new Community development cooperation policy. It also adopted a Resolution on communicable diseases and poverty in which it confirms the relevance of the broad areas identified, i.e. achieving optimum impact for health and development policies, reducing the cost of provision of care and stepping up research into new pharmaceutical products and the social aspects of these communicable diseases. Key elements of the new policy must therefore include a multidimensional approach, an emphasis upon partnership, ownership and participation, increased complementarity between Community and Member States' development policies, and improved management.

Already, the long-established relationship between the EU and the ACP countries has just entered a new phase with the signature in June of the Cotonou Agreement, which re-asserts the primary aim of eradicating poverty, through a partnership which ensures a comprehensive and integrated approach to the intricate network of factors now recognised as essential components for sustainable development. The particular points mentioned by the Honourable Member support for debt relief, careful targeting of development strategies to ensure maximum impact, the fight against HIV/AIDS and the improvement of health systems in general are all reflected in specific provisions of the Cotonou text. Crucially, practical work in these fields will be guided by the overall approach of the Agreement, which recognises inequities in the distribution of world wealth and seeks to operate a true partnership between the cooperating countries, based on democratic principles and ownership by ACP states of the development strategies for their countries.

In another initiative earlier this year, the Plan of Action which emerged from the Africa-Europe Summit held in Cairo in April strongly reiterated the commitment to poverty reduction and sustainable development. Again, the points raised by the Honourable Member are all included in the broad range of topics covered by the Plan of Action. The assembled States welcomed debt relief initiatives and, in particular, the EU commitment to contribute 1 billion euros to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and the link of this contribution to measures on poverty reduction. The bi-regional group of Senior Officials charged with promoting implementation of the Action Plan is to prepare a report for Ministers on the external debt of African countries. The Summit also provided for cooperation on the eradication of endemic diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis, polio and river blindness and on a range of responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

In this latter regard, the Council has asked the Commission to draw up a communication on potential additional EU efforts to confront major poverty diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and to improve the health of people in developing countries.

The Honourable Member is assured that the Council is fully cognisant of the key concerns of the international community, including poverty focus, AIDS, debt relief and is committed to ensuring that these issues are tackled in EU internal policies and in EU action on the broader international front.