The EU’s commitments ” “

The recent UN conference on the funding of development, held in Monterrey, in Mexico, from 18 to 22 March, ended with the adoption of the so-called “Monterrey Consensus”: an action plan that envisages not only an increase of aid, but a greater liberalization of trade, a growth of investments and a gradual redemption of the debts of the poor countries. The document, prepared several weeks ahead of the Conference, restates in broad outline the major objectives of the Millennium Round of 2000, i.e. primary education throughout the world and the reduction by 50% of the number of persons who live on less than a dollar a day. One innovative feature, added at the request of the American administration, consists in making the allocation of aid dependent on the “efficiency” of the governments of the developing countries as regards democratization and transparency in economic management. The position of the poorest countries. The results of the conference were variously received by various countries. On the one hand, the donor countries – in spite of the different approaches of the USA and the EU – are satisfied by the pledge to increase aid and promote democratic institutions in the developing countries. On the other hand, Venezuelan president Chavez, on behalf of the G77 (the group of the poorest countries), strongly criticized the document, which he called insufficient. The majority of the NGOs present at Monterrey aligned themselves with the criticisms voiced by the poor countries, insisting on the need to solve the problem of identifying the resources to fund development, the economic and financial instruments to promote its social justice, and the procedures to ensure the fairness of aid policies and in particular to solve the problem of the debt of the poor countries. Europe’s promises. The EU was represented at Monterrey at the highest levels. The EU delegation, directly led by the current president of the Council, the Spaniard José Maria Aznar, and by the president of the Commission Romano Prodi, presented the European position regarding aid policies to development. Asking for recognition of the European Union as the prime donor of aid to development, the Spanish prime minister confirmed the EU’s commitment to the reform of the international financial system and to guaranteeing the sustainability of the debt in the framework of the renewed initiative of the UN for the poorest countries, “so that the debt itself may not be an obstacle to development”. The member states of the EU have adopted a document, presented at Monterrey by Romano Prodi, by which they pledge to increase their aid by 7,000 billion euros per year, from 2006. In percentage terms, aid allocation will rise from the current 0.33% of European GDP to 0.39%. The voice of the Christian Churches. A delegation of the World Council of Churches followed the work of the UN Conference on the funding of development. Also present in the delegation were representatives of the Christian Churches of Africa and Latin America. Three central points were emphasized by the WCC for the campaign against poverty. First, the Churches asked the international community for “the elimination of the structural inequalities in the international commercial system and the introduction of principles of reciprocity, transparency and public participation in the negotiations”. Second, the WCC invited the governments to seek “a permanent solution” to the problem of the debt of the poor countries, beginning with the “immediate writing off of their foreign debt”. And third, the Churches consider it necessary to reinforce “the role of the United Nations in the field of economic and financial policies”.