"I am aware that efforts are still too slow and more efforts are needed. In a period of crisis, we cannot spare any effort to save money whilst increasing the impact of aid," said the EU commissioner in charge of development, Andris Piebalgs, presenting today (9 September) the position that the European Commission believes the 27-country bloc should adopt with regard to the effectiveness of international aid.
Piebalgs said he would come up with proposals for better coordination of EU donors, for instance through joint programming, in the coming weeks ahead of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, which will take place in Busan, South Korea, from 29 November to 1 December.
He argued that the EU's performance in aid effectiveness is above the global average among donors.
"No time should be lost in ensuring that international aid helps to lift even more people out of poverty so that we reach the Millenium Development Goals," Piebalgs said.
According to the survey and independent evaluation of the Paris Declaration (see 'Background'), EU aid is more transparent, predictable and coordinated than ever, as well as better adapted to developing countries' national priorities, but development NGOs are voicing a greater need for reform.
"What's missing is a clear way forward for the EU to commit to reform and lead by example," said Franz Josef Berger, an aid effectiveness expert at CONCORD, Europe's development NGO confederation.
Concretely, CONCORD calls for stronger EU action to give developing countries more control over aid resources by providing funds directly to governments, spending more aid money locally, untying aid and ending policy conditionality.
"The Commission recommends blending loans and grant and using innovative ways of raising money to leverage additional development funds, but it does not say how financial institutions are going to be chosen and how they can effectively track the social impact of the aid they channel," Berger added.
