The proposal of the European Commission to allocate 1 billion euros to the endowment of the 9th European Development Fund “to improve access to water supplies and to sanitary facilities for the populations of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) was adopted last week. The new fund is aimed to boost the efficiency in the management of resources for cooperation in the development in the poorest areas of the planet, in conformity with the objective of the international community to halve by 2015 the number of people (1.1 billion) deprived of drinking water and basic sanitary and hygienic conditions (2.4 billion). The allocation is subject to three principles: “governance” or the commitment of the beneficiary governments to develop national water policies; propriety, in the sense that the findings must cover a real need; innovation and flexibility, to ensure that the EU contribution is complementary to other forms of financing.
