The EU remains world’s principal donor but ………

With €53.8 billion (0.43% of its GDP), the European Union’s official development aid (ODA) reached a record level in 2010, up by €4.5 billion on 2009. “The EU remains incontestably the world’s leading donor,” declared Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, while admitting that it has failed to honour its pledge to jointly allocate 0.56% of its gross domestic product to ODA in 2010, rising to 0.7% in 2015. In absolute terms, the sums allocated were €14.5 billion less than promised (1).

Luxembourg beats all records

Overall, only nine Member States met the interim goals set for 2010: Belgium, Finland, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Cyprus in addition to Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, each of whom have already exceeded the 0.7% mark. In 2010, Luxembourg reached 1.09% of its GDP with €301M in development aid. On the other hand, countries such as Italy (0.15%), Austria (0.32%) or Germany (0.38%) are still a long way from fulfilling their promises. With 10 billion euros allocated to ODA, France is close to its target. 

The European Commission is therefore continuing to call on Member States to meet their commitments, after last year declaring that the economic crisis should not be used as an excuse by governments for failing to do so. “The budgets allocated to ODA must increase if we are to achieve our ambitious goals for 2015 and remain credible. That requires a collective effort and all the players must contribute their fair share,” stressed Andris Piebalgs. He also pointed out the need to maximise the impact of existing funds by improving the quality and flow of aid. In the course of this year, the Commissioner will be presenting his proposals for “improved targeting of development policy, ensuring better cooperation and greater impact in the field.” 

One key concern will be to improve the efficiency of direct budgetary support to developing countries, the amount of which will increase from 25% of the amounts programmed under the 9th EDF to almost 50% under the 10th EDF.  

Strengthening the checks

While recognising the efforts made by the Commission to implement and improve its approach to direct budgetary support, the latest special report by the European Court of Auditors (11/2010) noted insufficiencies in the methodology, programme management and evaluation, and risks. The Commission has pledged to resolve these problems. The European Parliament is also monitoring developments closely. The report entitled “Budgetary support as a means of distributing official development aid in the ACP countries”, presented to the May ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Budapest by Enrique Guerrero Salom and Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Guelaye, stresses, among other things, the need to strengthen both the Commission’s checking mechanisms and parliamentary checks in the developing countries. 

(1) OECD & EU figures – April 2011

Anne-Marie Mouradian