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PES Development Ministers and Opposition Spokespersons, meeting in Brussels ahead of the EU Development Ministers Council, warned EU member states not to use tightening national budgets as a reason to get out of their commitment to increase development aid.

EU member states agreed in 2005 to increase development aid to 0.56% of GNI by 2010 and 0.7% by 2015. The 0.7% target was agreed at the UN General Assembly as long ago as 1970!

At a meeting chaired by German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, the socialist and social democratic Ministers declared that “governments must resist the temptation not to deliver their aid commitments.”

They also agreed that however bad the recession hits the EU and other developed countries “the world’s poorest countries, already reeling from the shock of last year’s fuel and food crisis are at even greater risk.”

PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said “The world’s poorest people should not be made to suffer because of budget problems in some of the world’s richest countries. I fully understand that governments are feeling the pinch on their budgets, but that is no reason to escape their aid commitments. Europe needs to do much more to tackle the crisis, both at home and abroad.”

The International Labour Organisation says that if the situation continues to deteriorate some 200 million workers, mostly in developing economies, could be pushed into extreme poverty.

The worst overseas development aid donors among the EU 15, and the furthest from meeting EU targets for aid, are two conservative governments - Italy and Greece. According to CONCORD, the European confederation of development NGOs, Italy, Ireland and Estonia have all announced cuts to their 2009 aid budgets, and Latvia has suspended 100% of its development activities.

Taking part in the meeting were Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany; Soraya Rodríguez, Secretary of State of Cooperation, Spain; Laszlo Varkoniy, Secretary of State of International Development, Hungary; Gareth Thomas, Minister of State at the Department for International Development, Great Britain; Kent Harstedt MP, Spokesperson on Development, SAP Sweden.

Read the ministers' declaration

List of participants