Michel’s plan for aid offends wary capitals

By David Cronin

Date: 23/02/06

The European Commission is to recommend next week taking a joint approach to development aid with EU national governments, despite suspicions from some states that Commissioner Louis Michel is seeking new powers.

In a paper to be published next Thursday (2 March), the Commission will advocate eliminating existing obstacles to funding development projects jointly with member states.

The paper is intended to improve aid effectiveness, following ideas put forward during a conference in Paris held by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in March 2005.

Michel, the European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, has been calling for the currently patchy level of co-operation between the aid programmes of member states and those of the Commission to be replaced with a more formal structure that is genuinely 'European' in character.

His aides confirmed that the ideas in next week's paper would give formal form to these views.

But his approach has aroused suspicion from several of the development ministries in member states.

Diplomats following the discussions say that the UK, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland and Germany have been working on improving their aid procedures for the past few years. According to the diplomats, the approach taken by Michel would undermine their efforts.

Under the EC Treaty, responsibility for development co-operation is shared between the Commission and member states.

EU governments discuss co-ordinating their positions in international bodies such as the UN. But Commission officials complain that their institution is a separate donor from the member states.

The Commission devises country strategy papers for each of the recipients of its aid separately from member states. Michel has argued that this leads to unnecessary duplication and places a huge administrative burden on recipients, as they have to report back to several different donors.

Some diplomats are alleging that Michel's proposals for co-ordination amount to an encroachment into policy areas where he has no powers. They say that he is too focused on having co-ordination from a headquarters in Brussels, rather than on the ground in the developing countries affected.

They also accuse him and his advisers of failure to consult.

"It is comical that this is all about co-operation, yet the Commission is preparing its proposals alone, without any consultation," said one EU official.

A source close to Michel denied that the Commission was seeking new powers for itself. Instead, it was just seeking joint programming with member states. "Every single euro could be used more effectively in terms of fighting poverty than it is at the moment," the source added.

Countries such as France and Belgium are more receptive to Michel's ideas, according to officials.

In a recent report, the OECD calculated that the total amount of aid given to the least developed countries from richer parts of the world would increase by almost 60% by 2010 if pledges made during 2005 at meetings of the UN, G8 and EU are honoured. But the report warned that aid increases would not help reduce poverty unless they were flanked by improvements in the quality of aid.

At the OECD's March 2005 conference, representatives of donor countries undertook to adopt common approaches in planning, funding and implementing anti-poverty activities.

In a move towards greater effectiveness of external aid, the European Commission was expected to adopt a Communication on 3 March 2006, entitled 'EU Aid: Delivering more, better and faster', outlining a joint approach to development aid with EU national governments. Article reports that there was opposition in some Member States against the plans over fears that the Commission might seek to acquire extended powers in the field.