Date of release : 14-03-2005

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

Event : Meeting of the Presidents of the Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Commissions of the Parliaments of the EU

Jean-Louis Schiltz, Luxembourg Minister for Development and Humanitarian Affairs, spoke at the meeting of the Presidents of the Foreign Affairs Commissions of the National Parliaments of the EU Member States, of the applicant countries and of the European Parliament, which took place at the Neumünster Abbey in Luxembourg on 14 March 2005.

During his speech, Jean-Louis Schiltz focused on two points: the lessons learnt from the humanitarian effort in response to the Tsunami disaster in South-East Asia and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Jean-Louis Schiltz drew three lessons from the aid provided by the international community in response to the Tsunami disaster in South-East Asia, lessons "that will enable us to organize our response in a more effective manner in the future."

First lesson: "It is important to ensure that our commitments are controlled and monitored at every stage and at every level (accountability)."

The second lesson involves coordination. UNOCHA provided "effective coordination of efforts on the ground." On this subject, Jean-Louis Schiltz said "that it would be a good idea if we could achieve better coordination at European level by providing Member States with a light central structure to centralize the different resources available to the Member States."

"The third lesson concerns the transition to the reconstruction phase, which is currently in progress. It got under way rapidly and the transition between the two phases was harmonious. In this reconstruction phase, our action must be ‘country driven’, that is, the affected country decides in what areas we need to act and it is up to donors to say in what areas they are able to act", concluded Jean-Louis Schiltz.

MDGs were the second subject of the speech. Jean-Louis Schiltz made the following remarks with a view to the high level forum to take place at the UN in September: "We are likely to fail in achieving our goals if we do not make available more resources and improve the quality of those resources. The best means of achieving them is through capacity building. We have to improve the capacity on the ground so that our efforts become more effective."

As for harmonizing aid, another key theme in achieving MDGs, Jean-Louis Schiltz welcomed the agreement recently reached at the OECD’s Development Aid Committe. He said that this was an acceptable agreement, although he regretted that it had not gone further in terms of quantifiable objectives.

Finally, Jean-Louis Schiltz insisted on the fact that an increase in Official Development Aid  (ODA) is necessary, "if the EU wants to be in a strong position at the high level forum. It is imperative to arrive at a new objective in terms of ODA by 2009/10. Negotiations started on14/15 February 2005 in Luxembourg and they will continue in April after the EC has presented its communication on the new development policy." To conclude, Jean-Louis Schiltz launched an appeal: "If we wish to achieve the MDGs, and especially if we wish to make headway on the problem of Africa, we must have quantifiable objectives under the Luxembourg Presidency, that is before the high level forum. We must, however, remain realistic about the new Member States. They do not have adequate financial resources, since these countries have rapidly passed from the status of aid-recipient countries to that of donour countries. In their case, at the current time, it is important to create a dynamic by 2010. We need to send the message that development cooperation is a priority. In this respect, I am optimistic. I have the impression that the idea is beginning to get through."