Plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Credit: "CC-BY-4.0: © European Union 2020 – Source: EP"
Today, European Parliamentarians will cast their vote on the EU’s next long-term budget – a vote that will send a powerful political signal to the European Commission ahead of its proposal due out in July.
But behind these numbers lies a key question: will the EU maintain its role as a credible donor, or will it quietly shift towards a transactional approach shaped by short-term political interests?
The debate comes at a time of mounting pressure. The war in Ukraine is driving calls for increased defense and security spending. Meanwhile, fears of a trade war are demanding more investment in the EU’s economy. With these issues rising on the agenda, so too is the temptation to raid the EU’s development budget.
Globally, we are witnessing a sharp decline in the political appetite for aid. The US aid cuts might dominate headlines, but they’re far from alone. Governments across Europe – France, the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium – are slashing their aid budgets. As others pull back, the EU could soon become the world’s largest donor – not by design, but by default.
But this is not just about numbers on paper, it’s about people's lives. The US aid cuts could result in 95 million people losing access to basic healthcare – this could potentially lead to more than 3 million preventable deaths annually.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
These aid cuts mean more children will go to bed hungry, more people will die from preventable diseases, and millions more will be pushed even deeper into poverty. The aid cuts will also deepen global inequalities, weaken civil society and setback the fight against the patriarchy, amongst many other things.
Here is the irony: aid is one of the smartest investments governments can make. Every dollar spent on preventing disasters can save up to $15 in recovery costs. Each dollar invested in economic growth and political stability could avert spending $103 on future conflicts.
Let’s be clear: aid works. It keeps children in schools. It gets vaccines into arms. It provides clean water.
Despite this, leaked EU documents suggest a dangerous shift – a merger of existing funding instruments into a single “flexible” pot. While flexibility may sound efficient, it raises serious concerns that aid could be redirected to suit political interests like migration control rather than reducing inequality and ending poverty.
The problem is not a lack of resources – we have the money. Last year, billionaire wealth in the EU surged by nearly €400 million a day. The money exists; it is in the pockets of the super-rich who are not paying their fair share of tax.
The EU’s founding treaties are crystal clear: the primary goal of development cooperation is poverty eradication. To turn aid into a side budget to serve the EU’s geopolitical ambitions would be a betrayal of this legal, and moral, obligation.
Europe must reaffirm its commitment to multilateralism and solidarity as well as showing global leadership. Now is the time for Europe to scale up its role in tackling poverty, humanitarian crises and inequality.
Defending an aid budget that serves those truly in need is not only the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do.