MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
29.6.2005
pursuant to Rule 108(5) of the Rules of Procedure
by Luisa Morgantini, Gabriele Zimmer, Vittorio Emanuele Agnoletto, Tobias Pflüger, Pedro Guerreiro and Miguel Portas
on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group
on action against hunger and poverty
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B6-0398/2005
B6‑0407/2005
European Parliament resolution on action against hunger and poverty
The European Parliament,
– having regard to Rule 108(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas poverty has increased throughout the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where over a billion people live in extreme poverty and millions of people die every year because of lack of food, health care, access to water and decent living conditions,
B. whereas structural adjustment policies, cuts in public services, deregulation and liberalisation have accelerated impoverishment and the destruction of natural resources in Africa; whereas, after 30 years of structural adjustment, 320 million Africans live on less than one dollar a day,
C. whereas the situation has been aggravated by the fact that 25 million of the 40 million people who are HIV-positive live in Africa,
D. whereas the African countries borrowed USD 540 billion between 1970 and 2002 and repaid USD 550 billion during this period but still owe USD 295 billion for the same debt,
E. whereas in 2004 the developing countries transferred USD 374 billion from south to north just for servicing the external debt, which is unjustified and immoral – and for the most part shameful – and which is hampering their development,
F. whereas the debt cancellation announced by Mr Blair on the eve of the G8 summit covers USD 2 billion a year, applies to 18 of the 165 developing countries, concerns only IFI and not IDB and ADB debts, and is subject to HIPC conditions that impose opening of markets, deregulation and cuts in public services,
G. whereas, by way of comparison, in 2004 the G8 countries spent USD 700 billion on arms, with USD 400 billion being spent by the United States alone,
H. whereas the EU’s present international trade policy tends to aggravate the situation in Africa by dismantling tentative efforts to regulate raw materials and by pushing for the opening of markets for goods, services and capital,
1. Calls on the EU to take action to achieve genuine, unconditional cancellation of the developing countries’ external debt and rejects the neoliberal conditions tied to debt cancellation, particularly those associated with the HIPC initiative that perpetuate the neoliberal measures that continue to impoverish these countries;
2. Calls on the EU and its Member States to redirect their international trade policy by refraining from putting any pressure on the African countries, either directly, in bilateral or multilateral negotiations, or indirectly, by taking a stance in international financial institutions in favour of structural adjustment plans, the opening of markets and the deregulation of investments and services;
3. Calls on the Commission to make specific proposals for fairer trade with the African countries by developing guaranteed stable price mechanisms for products that are essential for development;
4. Calls on the EU to support the safeguarding and development of public services in the African countries so as to meet the major development challenges; calls on the EU to withdraw any request to liberalise water distribution in the developing countries;
5. Calls on the EU to support the development of public services such as railways, to encourage integration among African countries’ markets while measures are taken that are environmentally friendly and improve social conditions;
6. Calls for genuine recognition of the African countries’ right to safeguard their food sovereignty and protect their national and regional markets until they are able to enter into competition without destroying their economic activity;
7. Calls on the EU and its partners in the industrialised countries to speed up the timetable for dismantling export subsidies and to put pressure on the other industrialised countries to do likewise;
8. Calls on the Commission to propose measures that ensure that African countries receive a stable, fair price for export products that may further their development;
9. Calls on the Commission, while speeding up the allocation of 0.7 % of the Member States’ GNP to development, to present a proposal for a European tax on capital movements and air tickets to be used in a fund for development and conflict prevention, and to urge its partners to do the same at international level;
10. Calls for more intensive efforts to combat arms dealing with African countries and more controls and restrictions on trading arms to these countries;
11. Calls on the EU to establish effective controls on European multinational companies as regards their role in financing armed conflict, exploiting raw materials and respecting the rights of local communities, and supports the action taken by African governments to this end;
12. Calls for a list, to be drawn up within the United Nations, that sets out global public goods that are essential for human survival, which should not be subject to market laws but allocated according to need;
13. Believes that the G8 should be abolished as an institution because it has no legitimacy and its anti-democratic decisions condemn millions of people to hunger and death;
14. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.