“Nullkommasieben” (“Zeropointseven”) is the name of the campaign inaugurated in recent days in Austria, in the course of a conference in which Monsignor Julio X. Labayen (among others) took part. The aim of the campaign is to obtain from the Austrian government compliance with the pledge it made in 1970, and has so far ignored, namely, to allocate 0.7% of GDP to development aid, as well as to a better quality of cooperation in development through a shared administration of the available funds. The campaign has so far been supported by 38 NGOs of various provenance, both non-confessional and Christian, and various Catholic organizations such as Austrian Caritas, Missio, and the coordination centre of the Episcopal Conference. “The reduction of poverty declared Elfriede Schachner, spokesperson of the campaign is our motivation and point of departure, in the framework of the UN’s millennium development goals. Just because it is a small country, Austria, by allocating 0.7% of its GDP, would show it was not just interested in its own future but also in that of other people; it would also bring influence to bear on the EU”. During the conference Msgr. Labayen pointed out, however, that allocating “greater funds for the poor in the southern hemisphere is a necessary step, but it certainly isn’t the final solution to the problem”.
