The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the New York Declaration on Action Against Hunger and Poverty signed by over 120 countries during the 2004 United Nations General Assembly,

–  having regard to the EU Report on Millennium Development Goals 2000 – 2004 (EU contribution to the review of the MDGs at the UN 2005 High Level Event) of 12 April 2005, in which the Commission recognised that 'more resources and efficient aid are essential, but not enough to achieve the MDGs',

–  having regard to the Declaration on Innovative Sources of Financing Development signed by 79 Governments prior to the UN High Level Event on the Review of the Millennium Development Goals held in September 2005,

A.  whereas the New York Declaration on Action Against Hunger and Poverty marks the first international step in setting up innovative mechanisms in the financing of development; whereas the declaration calls upon the governments of developed countries to make concrete commitments in the financing of the MDGs,

B.  whereas such innovative mechanisms must be additional to and not replace Official Development Aid (ODA) and the commitments of the international community to attain the MDGs at least by 2015 in order to bring real added value to the financing of development; whereas EU Member States must stay firm on their commitment to devote at least 0.7% of their GNI to ODA and must adopt a time plan to achieve this target by 2015,

C.  whereas, at the initiative of the French Government, a High Level Meeting on innovative mechanisms for the financing of development will be held in Paris from 28 February to 1 March 2006, bringing together the 79 States that in September 2005 supported the launching of a pilot mechanism in the form of a solidarity contribution on air tickets,

D.  whereas the new source of financing must not be substitutive to the responsibility and obligation of states to finance the fight against the major diseases from their normal revenue; whereas the contributions to the World Fund for the Fight against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria raised less than 15% of the money needed; whereas the USA is financing 8% of the Fund instead of the 30% expected, and France is devoting five times less money (USD 160 million) than the United Kingdom (USD 900 million),

1.  Believes that the political climate is ripe for the setting-up of European or international taxation initiatives, with the goal of enhancing the financing of development complementary to the obligation to finance the MDGs and to make development finance more stable and predictable;

2.  Supports the Berlin Declaration of 2 June 2005 by the Governments of Algeria, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany and Spain, emphasising the need to foster an international consensus on a number of new instruments to finance the fight against hunger and poverty;

3.  Calls on the EU speedily to adopt a taxation mechanism on air transport, as originally proposed by France and Germany, along the lines of the mechanism proposed by the Commission, and actively to engage in the ongoing intergovernmental negotiations on international taxes with a view to involving non-European states;

4.  Calls on all Heads of State and Government to support this initiative by endorsing the Declaration on Innovative Sources of Financing Development and to commit themselves to implementing this pilot mechanism in 2006;

5.  Notes the idea of a pilot project for an international taxation scheme on air tickets to fight against HIV/AID and other pandemics, and other taxation schemes that would be nationally applied and internationally coordinated; believes that this is an essential step to bring legitimacy to more ambitious taxation mechanisms with a universal scope;

6.  Urges the industrialised countries to meet their commitment fully to finance the fight against AIDS and other pandemics and urges them to do so from current fiscal revenue; urges states to meet their commitment to finance development with at least 0.7% of their GNI for ODA, to achieve the MDGs as a minimum by 2015;

7.  Asks the EU institutions and governments to reopen the political debate with the participation of civil society and independent experts on the feasibility and desirability of other taxes that have been examined by the Commission and at various European Council meetings in 2005, including a tax on financial transactions, a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, a tax on maritime transport, and a tax on bond transactions (Stock Exchange Tax);

8.  Calls for due reflection on the fundamental principles that should guide the levying of international taxes, especially their allocation for development and peace, and the sharing of responsibility between the United Nations, national governments and civil society organisations;

9.  Takes the view that innovative taxation mechanisms must go hand in hand with the implementation of international financial regulations to impede tax evasion and tax havens, the strengthening of national fiscal regimes in order to prevent fiscal dumping to attract foreign investment, better monitoring of the fiscal behaviour of transnational enterprises, and external debt relief;

10.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States and the participants in the High Level Meeting on innovative mechanisms for the financing of development.