WRITTEN QUESTION E-0858/02

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

(27 March 2002)

Subject: EU financial aid commitments for cooperation with the poorest or least developed countries: the case of Spain

The Commission has just approved a report calling on the EU Member States, in a transitional period, to provide financial aid for development in the poorest or least developed countries at a level of at least 0,33 % of their GDP, a percentage which corresponds to the average aid granted by the Member States. The aim is eventually to achieve a level of 0,7 % of GDP.

What measures will the Council propose to achieve this objective? What measures will it ask the Spanish State to take in order to increase its current level of aid for such countries, which stands at 0,22 % of GDP?

Reply

(3 October 2002)

1. The Council would remind the Honourable Member that the European Council meeting in Laeken on 14 and 15 December 2001 noted with satisfaction the Council's undertaking to examine the means and the timeframe for each Member State's achievement of the UN official development assistance (ODA) target of 0,7 % of GNP and its commitment to continuing its efforts to improve development cooperation instruments.

2. The Council began preparing the United Nations Conference on Financing for Development (Monterrey, Mexico, 18-22 March 2002) at its meeting on 18 and 19 January 2002, at which the Commission representative presented five concrete proposals for increasing the quantity and quality of ODA (a sizeable increase in ODA; strengthening and harmonising procedures and improving coherence with other policies; further efforts to untie Community aid and fully untie all bilateral aid; promoting an agenda on global public goods as a basis for mobilising additional resources; and increased trade-related technical assistance).

The Council entrusted its preparatory bodies with the task of examining the report, to enable the Union to make an important contribution to the success of the Conference through the adoption of positive measures. The Council continued its discussions in March, recalling in particular the Göteborg European Council undertaking to reach the UN target for ODA of 0,7 % of GDP as soon as possible.

3. With a view to the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development, the European Council meeting on 15 and 16 March 2002 welcomed the agreement reached on ODA by Foreign Ministers. The agreement provides that those Member States which have not yet reached the 0,7 % target will commit themselves individually to increasing their ODA volume in the next four years within their respective budget allocation processes, whilst the other Member States renew their efforts to remain at or above the target level, so that collectively a European Union average of 0,39 % is reached by 2006. All the European Union Member States have undertaken in any case to strive to reach, within their respective budget allocation processes, 0,33 % ODA/GNP by 2006. The European Council is committed to monitoring Member States' progress in fulfilling their commitments made at the Barcelona Council in 2002. In this context, the European Council in Seville on 21 and 22 June 2002 adopted conclusions (see paragraphs 40 to 46) along those lines.

4. At the Monterrey Conference, the Union, as the largest contributor of aid, confirmed through the President of the Council, José María Aznar, the commitment of the Fifteen to stepping up their efforts to ensure that the results achieved at Monterrey represent a starting point rather than the end of a process.