Prodi under pressure over water aid

Date: 15/05/03

By David Cronin

ROMANO Prodi has come under fire from anti-poverty campaigners, who claim he failed to consult developing countries about his plans for a €1 billion water fund.

The initiative, announced by the European Commission chief in April, is designed to boost access to clean water and sanitation in the 77-country African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc.

It follows the commitment made at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, which set a target of halving the number of people deprived of safe drinking water by 2015.

But anti-poverty activists say Prodi should have first discussed the proposal with ACP governments and non-governmental organizations.

The campaigners are due to raise their complaint during a debate on 'good governance' at a meeting of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers in Brussels tomorrow (16 May).

Rebecca Muna, a spokeswoman for the Tanzanian Coalition on Debt and Development, suspects a hidden agenda behind the scheme, fearing that the Commission wishes to foist water privatization on poor countries.

"I see this initiative as an entry point to privatize water with no cost analysis in the majority of poor countries, who have been missing this essential service for decades now," she said.

"Who told them [the Commission] we need a water fund? Why are they trying to find a panacea for our problems?

"Why can't they ask us what we want, to deal with our water problems, then finance it?"

The €1 billion is due to come from a reserve in the European Development Fund (EDF), which has not been committed to other projects.

Eurostep, an umbrella group of relief agencies including Oxfam and ActionAid, wants clarification about the financing plans.

It has also expressed concerns that there may not be a sufficient reserve in the EDF for this funding, because of commitments already made to other projects and plans to boost the sums allocated to debt reduction and the fight against AIDS.

"We're not against the water fund," said Guggi Laryea, Eurostep's policy advisor.

"But we have doubts about the availability of money."

The Commission insists it will be holiding talks with ACP countries about the water fund proposal as, under EDF rules, their approval is needed for the financing to go ahead.

An aide to Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Poul Nielson also said that €1 billion from the ninth EDF, which came into effect on 1 April this year, has not been allocated to other schemes.

"An extra billion has been set aside and we want to make a grab for that billion.

"There is an urgent need [for water] in developing countries," Nielson's aide added.

Anti-poverty campaigners have criticised the European Commission for failing to consult the ACP countries before presenting a document concerning water aid for the bloc.