Mr President, emergency fund contributions, as you know, recorded a decrease of EUR 4.8 billion in the amount intended for the regulation of humanitarian crises in the poorest countries. This is the highest recorded historical gap between the funds needed and the funds collected from donor governments and, seeing these figures, we cannot help but think about the huge amount of money spent on bank bailouts. Each government is responsible for solving its own country’s problems but, at the same time, it is unfair and indecent to overlook the fact that the developing countries are hardest hit by the economic crisis, even though these countries are less responsible for that crisis. The world around us teaches us not to expect too much from humanitarian appeals, especially during periods of recession. I would therefore like to draw your attention to the risk of neglecting the developing countries and of accelerating the growth in poverty and obtaining a boomerang effect in the shape of increased internal tension, bloody conflicts, humanitarian tragedies and massive migration, yet again debated by developed countries. Considering these circumstances, I believe that efforts are required in one direction to assume our responsibilities. This requires boosting international aid and the need for more efficient development aid. I also believe we should focus on decreasing dependence on humanitarian aid for some of the beneficiaries. I would also like to ask the Commissioner – taking into account what former Commissioner Michel previously said about the need to step up the involvement of the World Bank and the IMF – whether he intends to come up with a proposal for this Istanbul summit. I do not want to close this speech without stating my appreciation for the start of your Commission mandate. I have in mind the US-South Africa summit, your visit to Zimbabwe at the end of this week and the emergency assistance provided in recent days for the 100 000 victims of the floods in West Africa. At the same time, I wish to point out that not only Burkina Faso faces natural disasters, but Niger also needs international support. Human lives are not just threatened by floods, but also by the insidious and permanent threat of drought. I also appreciate that you allocated EUR 53 million last week to respond to the drought in sub-Saharan countries. These are encouraging indicators which I hope will hope will influence the talks at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh and the Copenhagen Conference, as these meetings are critical nowadays with the millennium development goals facing a major risk of failure. |
(sursa: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20090914+ITEM-023+DOC+XML+V0//RO&language=RO&query=INTERV&detail=1-203 & youtube)
No comments:
Post a Comment