Nielson calls for shake-up to halt EU aid ‘paralysis’

Date: 28/02/02

By David Cronin

DEVELOPMENT chief Poul Nielson is calling for a radical shake-up in the structure of the European Commission to prevent the EU's aid programme being stricken with 'paralysis'.

Outlining his ideas for reform in an interview with European Voice, the Danish commissioner envisages his department joining forces with the EuropeAid office, which comes under the external relations (Relex) directorate.

Nielson says changes are needed because the Union's aid programmes are not working as effectively as they should.

He blames this on complex divisions of responsibility: for instance, while DG Development takes care of policy formation, EuropeAid implements projects on the ground.

'The eternal discussion of who does what continues to drag us into some kind of a paralysis,' said the commissioner.

Nielson argues that divorcing the theory and practice of delivering aid to poor countries is 'old fashioned' and a 'more integrated, holistic view' is needed. 'It would make sense to move DG Development into Aidco [EuropeAid]. We would then have the full geography presence in Relex. It would look more like a foreign affairs ministry,' he said.

Under his plan, Nielson and External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten would remain, respectively, chief executive and chairman of EuropeAid.

Anti-poverty groups have voiced concerns about staff cuts in DG Development and its shrinking areas of responsibility.

For instance, the directorate used to have more say on trade and fisheries' deals with the world's poorest countries; charities such as Oxfam are worried that departments more focused on commercial goals are now calling the shots.

Nielson does not accept those criticisms. 'Some comments on the fate of DG Development show a lack of understanding of the ability and willingness in this Commission to work a little more across the lines of the directorates.

'There are still problems, but it actually works better than I know it did before.'

However, the former Social Democrat minister admits he is disappointed that the new centre-right government in his native Denmark has cut its development and environmental aid package by €200 million, and described the move as a 'wrong signal'.

Denmark has been held up as a model donor as one of only four EU states to abide by an internationally-agreed target of spending 0.7 of gross domestic product on official development assistance (ODA).

But Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's government is the only one in the EU to be trimming its ODA allocation.

Nielson said: 'The main obligation of a commissioner is not to give marks to member states. But the signal is wrong. Maybe the saddest part of it is that by reducing, they [Danes] are still in the group of elite donors. That says more about the rest [of the member states].'

In a new Commission paper for the UN conference on financing development in Monterrey, Mexico (18-22 March), Nielson urges all EU countries to give at least 0.39 of GDP in aid by 2006 and to increase this to 0.7 soon after.

European Commissioner for Development, Poul Nielson, is calling for a radical shake-up in the structure of the European Commission to prevent the EU's aid programme being stricken with 'paralysis'.