Halverwege de Millenniumdoelen: Europarlement wil dat lidstaten hun beloften nakomen (en)

The EP commends the Member States that have reached or exceeded the 0.7% ODA/GNI target and those that are increasing their aid levels, but regrets that some EU-15 countries have missed the interim 0.33% target in 2006. The report drafted by Glenys Kinnock (PES, UK) on the midway point of the Millennium Development Goals has been adopted by 507 in favour, 64 against and 119 abstentions.

The House regrets that at the recent G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, leaders failed to do enough to guarantee their promises to Africa. Although the G8 reiterated their 2005 pledge to increase ODA to Africa by EUR 18.6bn a year by 2010, the G8 did not commit to an accountable timetable for delivering these aid promises (AM 2).

Italy missed the 0.33% target by wide margin, with its aid in 2006 amounting to only 0.2% of its national income, after a 30% drop in real aid levels. Portugal - due to host the EU-Africa Summit during its Presidency in 2007 -, achieved only 0.21% ODA/GNI in 2006.

The worst inflators of aid are Austria (57%), France (52%), Italy (44%), Germany (53%) and the UK (28%). Germany, which holds the Presidencies of both the EU and G8, would not have reached the target of 0.33% ODA/GNI without inflating its aid, notes the report.

The report calls on the Commission and Member States to exclude spending on debt relief from aid reporting, in line with what was decided in Monterrey in 2002.

The EP calls on the developing countries to improve their own prosperity potential by instituting programmes of economic liberalisation, especially in the area of property rights, which would release at a stroke substantial capital for immediate investment.

EDF and EIB

On the European Development Fund, the EP calls on the Commission to ensure that funds will be available during the probable transitional period (2008-2010), i.e. before the 10th EDF is ratified by all 27 Member States (most likely in 2010). The EU could decide to implement new forms of funding MDGs such as through the European Investment Bank (EIB), according to the report. The EP also calls on the EIB to ensure that the same political accountability is extended to Parliament on the funding of such projects as for other EIB operations.

China

MEPs urge the EU and the G8 to recognise the growing importance of new donors, and in particular China, and to engage these new donors in a dialogue on approaches and standards for external assistance, including the importance of applying internationally agreed norms and standards in aid implementation.

Healthcare

The House urges the EU to continue to be at the vanguard of efforts to support sexual and reproductive health rights by maintaining levels of funding for the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme.

 MEPs believe that health care infrastructure deserves stable and long term financial support from national budgets and international assistance in order to deliver on the health-related MDGs : reducing infant mortality by increasing immunization coverage, reducing maternal mortality by increasing access to skilled professionals, supporting research and development of and access to new diagnostics and therapies, providing safe drinking water and sanitation, and scaling up significantly towards the goal of universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support of HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB and other diseases by 2010, including for marginalized populations and those most vulnerable to infectious diseases.

EPAs and access to medicines

MEPs believe that pharmaceutical-related TRIPS affecting public health and access to medicines which go beyond the TRIPS Agreement should be excluded from EPAs and other future bilateral or regional agreements with low-income countries.