Press Release
The Presidency calls on the European Union to make a new commitment to financing development during the month of May

Date of release : 12-04-2005

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

Jean-Louis Schiltz, Luxembourg Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, applauded the European Commission’s adoption, on 12 April 2005, of three communications on development cooperation.

The "development package" designed by the Commission serves as a basis for the European Union to prepare for the United Nations summit in New York. The summit, which takes place in September 2005, will be expected to evaluate the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and to outline the remaining requirements to ensure these objectives are achieved by 2015, in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa.

"I praise the Commission’s proposal, whose aim is to have the European Union devote 0,56% of its gross national income to development cooperation by 2010", stated Minister Jean-Louis Schiltz. "If the European Union and the Member States fail to provide more funds for development, we will not meet the Millennium Development Goals. Without additional means, we will not succeed in reducing poverty to half by 2015", added the Minister.

Besides the proposal for a new commitment to public development aid at European level, the Commission’s proposals aim essentially to speed up reforms in improving the quality of aid, to reconsider the methods by which the European Union - through its internal and external policies - influences development conditions and helps Africa, as a matter of priority, benefit from these new directions.

"I will spare no effort in ensuring that the Ministers for Development of the Member States adopt new quantifiable objectives for public development aid during the Council of Ministers on 23 and 24 May. I am working hard to prepare the ground and am confident that our labour will produce positive results", concluded Minister Jean-Louis Schiltz.