Wednesday, December 7, 2011

EU to cut aid to 19 emerging countries from China to Argentina

The European Commission decided to cut aid from its 2014 -2020 budget to 19 emerging economies together with big economies like China, India and Brazil, and also including Argentina and other ten Latin American countries, the EU's development commissioner Andris Piebalgs said today.

“Countries such as China, India, Brazil, Argentina, which are either upper middle income countries or countries whose GDP represent more than 1% of the global GDP, are now able to ensure their own development and our aid does not have any longer a high impact on their development,” said the EU in an official statement.

The commissioner said the decision was taken to bring about "a shift in our relations with emerging countries and a focus of the aid on the poorest countries" between 2014 and 2020.

The 27-state European Union is the world's biggest donor, accounting for 50% of world aid with 53.8 billion euros ($72 billion) handed out last year. The European Commission manages 20% of that aid, or 11 billion euros.

A European confederation of relief agencies disputed EU’s version that the cuts wouldn’t affect the emerging countries.

"The European Commission must ensure that aid is focused on the poorest people and the sectors most in need in the world," said Sarah Kristine Johansen from the CONCORD confederation, which says it represents national aid agencies and 1,600 non-governmental organizations.

"An over-reliance on macro-economic data averaged at the national level hides the reality of poverty and inequality within countries. Aid should not be instrumentalized for EU strategic interests. We're talking about public money aimed at poverty eradication," she said in a statement.