European Parliament hearing on the EU towards the UN summit on the MDGs

The sixth 2015-Watch Report "The EU’s Contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. Keeping the Goals Alive", launched at the hearing, expressed concern about alarmingly low EU aid levels for food, health and education, especially to Sub-Sahara Africa. EC aid increased from €7.5 billion in 2005 to €12 billion in 2009, but the percentage of allocations to food decreased from 4% of total funding in 2005 to 1.5% in 2008, basic health from 4.7% (2005) to 1.3% (2008) and basic education from 2.7% (2005) to 1.1% (2008).

Gay Mitchell MEP expressed his disappointment and promised to take the matter forward with the European Parliament’s Development Committee.

According to the report, if the responsibility for health and education investment was shared equally, the European Commission would onlu need to increase funding from €605 million (latest figures) to €971 million annually for education and from €460 million (latest figures) to €1.5 billion for health.

Alliance 2015 is urging the EU to agree on a legally binding target to ensure that 20% of all aid is allocated to basic health and education, and to strongly advocate for an international target at the UN MDG Summit.

The event gathered such figures as Mr. Stefano Manservisi (Director General, DG Development), Mr. Aristotelis Bouratsis (Director, EuropeAid), Ms. Dominique Dellicour (EuropeAid), Ms. Helene Bourgade (EuropeAid), Mr. Roberto Bissio (Coordinator Social Watch), Mr. Marcus Leroy (Special Advisor MDG Summit to the Belgian Government), Ms. Francoise Moreau (Acting Director, DG Development), and a variety of non-state actors.

For more information :

Alliance2015 website

Full report Alliance2015 The EU’s Contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. Keeping the Goals Alive