Franziska (Ska) Keller is a member of the Committee on International Trade and serves on the European Parliament's EU-Turkey delegation. She spoke to EurActiv Senior Editor Georgi Gotev.
You are one of the 82 MEPs campaigning for not slashing down the funds for development aid under the 2014-2020 budget. Can you tell us more about this initiative?
The 82 MEPs that have signed up for from the five biggest groups of the European Parliament [EPP, S&D, ALDA, Green/EFA, ECR]. We think that development aid should not be cut, because the EU has committed to the 0.7% target [see European Council Conclusions, paragraph 27], the member states have committed to it, and it doesn’t help if we just commit, we need to deliver on it. And that means explicitly that we have to provide funds.
What the Council is proposing is to cut development aid, which is completely the contrary of what the Council is committing itself times and times again. For us this is not acceptable, because Europe’s development policy is one of its most respected policies - 85% of Europeans according to polls support a stronger development policy. And that’s an area where the EU is very good. And it’s really a policy field where we can make a huge difference, like saving lives, bringing people into employment, allowing education, etc. So we don’t accept that it should be cut.
Do you expect this initiative to be successful, together more support from the rest of MEPs?
Those 82 MEPs are representing their groups. So it’s not 82 single minds, it’s a broad support. And as you know, there is a lot of controversy about MFF [the multi-annual financial framework] and the Parliament as such doesn’t want to see it cut. So we have a lot of support.
More generally, are you optimistic about the talks on the EU budget for 2014-2020? Do you expect a compromise before the end of the current Irish presidency?
For me it’s not optimism just to say that they will finish soon. For me the result counts. And if we cannot have some increases in very good, progressive policy areas, I don’t think it will be a success.
But if you have increases in one area, you will need to make cuts in another one, as the overall amount of €960 billion has already been agreed…
Yes, but they didn’t ask the European Parliament. The Council cannot simply decide by themselves the EU budget.
Why do you think the EU has an added value in terms of development aid?
It’s not only my opinion, NGOs are saying that EU cooperation is more effective, because it’s coordinating the member states’ efforts. If you have the 27 members states going into a developing country and doing their little projects, that doesn’t help much. You need to have an overall picture, you need cooperation, you need a strategic approach about strengthening the partner country, about making sure that they are putting in place their development strategy. It’s about bringing the country forward. In that the EU has been very successful at.
You recently took a position in the case of the collapsed building in Bangladesh in which several Western companies were manufacturing textile products. What went wrong there in policy terms?
What went wrong is that we didn’t focus our trade policy stronger on corporate social responsibility, on obliging the companies to follow the norms that they follow in Europe, but not elsewhere. And that’s something we can do at least for the European companies, and we can do that over trade relations. So that’s not so much a development policy thing, it’s more about trade policy.
But how do you see it in practice?
I think in practice we should make laws that oblige companies to report on what they are doing on corporate social responsibility, and to have trade relations with other countries that enforce binding sustainable development chapters. We have at the moment sustainable development chapters, but they are not binding, so you cannot enforce them. That we should change.
But we hear people on the street saying, well, it’s very sad that people died in this collapsed building, and that they are badly exploited, but we’re in a crisis and I want to buy my T-shirt at a low price.
Actually the price isn’t so much of an issue. In this factory that collapsed in Bangladesh there were cheap companies and more expensive companies producing [goods]. And if you improve the wage of the workers, that would have a very tiny effect on the price of the T-shirt in the end. The price depends much more on other factors.
As an MEP, do you have the chance to see for yourself the situation on the ground in different developing countries?
Yes, I’ve been part of delegations with the [European Parliament] Development Committee; we have been looking at projects in Bangladesh, or in India, or Bolivia, just to name a few examples. The Development Committee is looking at what exactly is happening with the money, which I think is important. What I’ve seen is really good projects, but also good cooperation with partner countries.
There will be European elections in less than a year. Do you think EU’s development action will be part of the campaign? Especially of the big political parties?
My party will certainly push for it and we are a big, relevant political party.
What’s new in the upcoming German parliamentary elections? What’s central in the campaign of the German Greens?
We have a long electoral programme. Our positions on the tax issues have made the biggest headlines in the media, but they are getting a lot of support as well. What we are saying basically is less taxes for people that earn less and more taxes for the richest few. But we are campaigning on all issues, like social issues, environmental issues, development issues as well.
Energy was a big topic at the last EU summit. But it looks like EU leaders want cheap energy and are backtracking on climate targets. It looks doubtful if climate change will stay on the top of the EU agenda…
It’s clear that it needs to stay on the top of the agenda if we ever want to limit climate change. People know there is a problem with climate change. Everybody knows we are facing global warming. It will be a topic we will push for. It’s there on the agenda and if we don’t act, everybody will lose on it.
