Prodi aims to up cash aid to poor

Date: 31/01/02

By David Cronin

COMMISSION chief Romano Prodi is to seek major increases in the amount of cash aid the EU gives the world's poorest countries.

Advisers to the Union's chief executive say he is 'very anxious' that tangible results will be achieved at March's UN conference on financing development in Monterrey, Mexico.

To encourage that, he will in the coming weeks criticise EU countries for failing to uphold pledges of granting 0.7 of their gross domestic product (GDP) in aid to the developing world.

Only four member states - the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Luxembourg - hit that target.

On 13 February, Prodi is due to unveil a new Commission paper analysing how much each member state currently allocates to development.

It says Britain, France, Belgium and Greece are in a position to significantly raise their aid donations.

A new World Bank report estimates that aid given by the industrialised to the developing world is now at its lowest level since 1947. Paul Collier, a senior economist with that institution, said it is 'clearly appropriate' for the EU to seek higher aid because achieving that goal 'requires coordinated action'.

European Commission President Romano Prodi is to seek major increases in the amount of cash aid the EU gives the world's poorest countries.