Europe fails to deliver on aid reforms at major summit

The world’s biggest aid donor, the European Union, was sidelined at the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness taking place in Busan, South Korea from 29 November – 1 December. The EU gives over €53billion a year to developing countries, that’s over 50% of global aid.

Justin Kilcullen, President of CONCORD, the European NGO confederation for relief and development, said: “The European Union was a ghost at the global aid summit. Despite contributing €53billion to development aid a year, the EU allowed a watered down agreement on global aid reform to accommodate geopolitical agendas. European Member States were fragmented and EU leadership suffered. We are concerned that several important measures such as co-operation between developing countries -South South cooperation - ended up only being proposed on a voluntary basis as the final outcome document reveals. If the EU had of stepped up its game, Busan could have delivered stronger results for global development."

Oxfam spokesperson Farida Bena said: “This is a time to make the aid the EU gives better, not worse. We are hugely disappointed at the EU’s lack of leadership here. The EU has not been constructive – it should have supported efforts to improve the effectiveness of European aid.”