Az ülések szó szerinti jegyzőkönyve

2006. február 14., Kedd - Strasbourg

15. A fejlesztést szolgáló új finanszírozási mechanizmus a millenniumi célok keretében (vita)

  Presidente. L'ordine del giorno reca la dichiarazione della Commissione sul nuovo meccanismo di finanziamento per lo sviluppo nell'ambito degli obiettivi del Millennio.

  Charlie McCreevy, Member of the Commission. Mr President, the Commission was asked last week by the European Parliament to make a statement on innovative sources of financing for development cooperation. Commissioner Michel cannot be here tonight as he is travelling to eastern Africa to previous engagements which could not be rescheduled. He is extremely sorry not to be able to share with you the Commission’s views on this topic and has asked me to step in for him.

Aid needs to be substantially increased if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved. The European Union has not shied away from its responsibilities towards its partner countries. Quite the contrary: the European Council of June 2005 forcefully restated its support for the Millennium Development Goals with ambitious commitments on both the quality and the quantity of aid.

In particular, the European Council has committed itself to increasing official development assistance with the aim of achieving a target of 0.7% of gross national income in 2015. To that end, a collective target of 0.56% of GNI has been fixed for 2010.

However, more aid will not be enough. We need to ensure that current and promised increases in financing are provided in ways which actually help countries meet their commitments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

In the recently approved joint statement by the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission on the European consensus for development, the European Union commits itself to the more predictable and less volatile aid mechanisms. The Commission believes that innovative mechanisms for financing development have a useful role to play. For this reason during 2005, at the request of the Council, the Commission produced a series of staff working papers providing technical analysis of innovative sources of financing for development.

In addition, in April 2005, the Commission adopted a communication to the Council and the European Parliament, ‘Accelerating progress towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals – Financing for Development and Aid Effectiveness’. Amongst other things, this communication discussed innovative sources of financing and new delivery aid mechanisms and invited the Council to ‘agree to accelerate work on the most promising options for innovative additional sources of finance’. The Commission noted that any innovative sources of financing must be assessed in light of a number of criteria. For example: how much would each proposal raise? To what extent would the funds be additional to existing commitments? How stable and predictable would they be? What are the competitiveness and sectoral impacts? What would the launch and administration costs be? Which proposals can go forward fastest? Is universal support required or can proposals be implemented at regional – that is EU – level?

The Commission notes France’s readiness to start implementation of one of the proposals emerging from that debate, namely, the imposition of a solidarity contribution on all air tickets sold in France as of July 2006. This initiative may have a positive effect on other countries’ readiness to carry forward initiatives in the area of financing for development.

The Commission would also like to inform the European Parliament that, to support the debate and preserve the momentum on these issues, a technical workshop between the Commission and Member State representatives was held on 9 February 2006. The workshop touched upon the existing initiatives, as well as possible alternatives with respect to innovative financing. The Commission, however, also looked at ways in which existing aid arrangements could be modified and complemented so as to deliver resources in more predictable ways.

Finally, the Commission would like to note that, during the workshop, the French representatives gave an update on the high-level conference to be held in Paris on 28 February and 1 March. Representatives of the Commission will be present at that event.

  Tokia Saïfi, au nom du groupe PPE-DE. – Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Commissaire, l'Union européenne se doit d'être un fer de lance dans la réalisation des objectifs du millénaire pour le développement. Depuis la conférence de Monterrey de 2002 et le sommet des Nations unies de septembre 2005, la communauté internationale a compris qu'il fallait relever le défi du développement en menant une politique commune intégrant les objectifs du Millénaire. A l'heure où le fossé ne cesse de se creuser entre le Nord et le Sud et où la prospérité grandissante des pays industrialisés renvoie à la pauvreté de nombreux pays du Sud, il est grand temps que la mobilisation de la communauté internationale se traduise par des actions concrètes.

Si l'Union européenne est la principale donatrice, aujourd'hui elle doit faire plus, elle doit faire mieux et elle doit aller plus vite. Le consensus européen pour le développement et la nouvelle stratégie pour l'Afrique vont dans ce sens, comme la récente annonce de la création d'un fonds européen pour financer des projets africains, et je m'en réjouis. Malgré l'augmentation de l'aide publique traditionnelle, les chiffres actuels montrent que la réalisation des objectifs du Millénaire passe par l'adoption de mécanismes de financement complémentaire. À l'initiative de plusieurs États membres, des instruments financiers innovants et complémentaires voient le jour. L'Union européenne doit œuvrer à leur mise en œuvre afin de lever des ressources stables et prévisibles pour répondre aux besoins non satisfaits des pays en développement, en particulier dans le secteur de la santé. Plusieurs États membres soutiennent déjà ces initiatives. Certains d'entre eux, dont la France, vous l'avez rappelé, Monsieur le Commissaire, se sont engagés à mettre en place des contributions internationales de solidarité, notamment sur les billets d'avions.

Lors de la prochaine conférence ministérielle, les États membres approfondiront le consensus international sur la nécessité d'instaurer des sources innovantes et concrètes de financement. Ce rendez-vous doit être l'occasion de poursuivre la dynamique née à New-York lors du dernier sommet des Nations unies.

  Glenys Kinnock, on behalf of the PSE Group. – Mr President, Commissioner, I would like to talk about the potential offered by the International Financing Facility proposed by the UK Chancellor Gordon Brown. The IFF leverages money from international capital markets by issuing bonds which can potentially raise USD 50 billion each year from 2005 to 2015.

The advantage of this, referring to some of the points you raised in your introduction, Commissioner, is that this money is frontloaded, it is long term, it is stable and it is predictable money. It raises one billion a year, which can be used to get children into school and to abolish the fees that jeopardise the education of millions of children in developing countries, especially little girls.

The IFF has already put in place a pilot scheme for immunisation, which is searching for vaccines for malaria and for HIV/AIDS – the scourge in Africa and many other parts of the world – for which there is no cure. The agreement is to provide a global advanced purchasing scheme to make sure that life-saving vaccines are commercially produced at affordable prices and that these are produced in ways of which we in this Parliament should all approve and which we should find essential at this time.

We acknowledge that meeting the Millennium Development Goals, which is part of the purpose of this debate, is difficult, but if we can put the money in place – predictable money – then we will get every child into school and we will prevent the needless deaths of 30 000 children every day. That is what we are talking about; that is about us trying to translate hope into reality.

When he heard about the IFF, Nelson Mandela said that it was an absolutely necessary and timely initiative that deserves an active response from the international community. I very much hope that the European Union will support this initiative firmly and in a very committed way.

  Fiona Hall, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – Mr President, my group welcomes this resolution. There is broad consensus that under-financing and under-investment, in Africa in particular, have played a significant part in holding developing countries back. Economists like the American Jeremy Sachs admit that development assistance to Africa to date has been peanuts when measured against the scale of infrastructure investment that is required.

The title of this resolution is somewhat restrictive and mentions a new financial instrument as if there were only one solution to the problem, but the text is fortunately much broader. The nub of the problem is that we have to find ways to finance development over and above the national commitment to 0.7%.

The resolution floats the idea of a solidarity contribution on air tickets, but that should not be the only avenue, and like Mrs Kinnock I should like to suggest other possibilities. Firstly, Member States can simply decide to accelerate the timetable for reaching the 0.7% GDP target and indeed go beyond it. In Britain the Liberal Democrats have pledged to reach the 0.7% by 2011, two years ahead of the deadline set by the present UK Government.

Secondly, there is a role for foreign direct investment. No country has ever been lifted out of poverty by aid alone and countries which have enjoyed the most spectacular rates of development, such as China, have enjoyed high levels of FDI. The problem is that when foreign investment is negotiated via bilateral investment treaties or as proposed by the WTO at Cancún, it can involve exploitation of the weaker partner and the waiving of environmental and social protection. What is needed is a new international investment agreement under the auspices of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

In conclusion, we should explore as many ways as possible for levering extra investment into development, but the methods we choose must have public support and they must never be covert.

  Caroline Lucas, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, I thank the Commissioner. One of the reasons why we are discussing this issue tonight is because there is an international conference in Paris at the end of this month, a key opportunity to make progress on the subject of innovative sources of finance for development. My group particularly welcomes the fact that this meeting looks set to agree an air ticket levy with proceeds going to benefit some of the world’s poorest people. Of course there are a range of other tools and instruments as well. Mrs Kinnock has already spoken very eloquently about the benefits of the IFF. However, I believe that the air ticket levy is also important because it marks a turning point in the quest for the introduction of global levies for the financing of global development needs. It deserves our full support. I would stress, however, that the new finances must be genuinely new: in other words, additional to, and not a substitute for, existing development budgets.

I am very glad that the Commission will be represented at the meeting in Paris, but I would like to know whether it has plans to encourage the other Member States to go, whether there will be a mechanism for feeding back to Parliament the results of the meeting in Paris, and whether there are plans to share the contents of the workshop that took place on 9 February between the Commission and the Council. I am sure that many of us would be very interested to know.

  Alessandro Battilocchio (NI). – Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, intervengo a nome del nuovo PSI e in qualità di membro della commissione per lo sviluppo.

I dati e i numeri della povertà urlano in quest'Aula un'assordante richiesta di aiuto. Oltre un miliardo di persone nel mondo vive in condizioni di estrema indigenza, sopravvivendo con meno di un dollaro al giorno. Milioni di bambini continuano a morire ogni anno a causa della mancanza di cure sanitarie appropriate, di acqua potabile, di abitazioni decenti e di una nutrizione adeguata, mentre ventimila persone al giorno muoiono per cause legate alla penuria di cibo.

Nelle condizioni attuali di sviluppo tecnologico e di produzione agricola, la persistenza di questa situazione è economicamente irrazionale, politicamente inaccettabile e moralmente vergognosa. Guardiamo, quindi, con grande attenzione, attesa e sincera speranza ai lavori della ormai prossima conferenza di Parigi, avendo ben presente che è necessario disporre non solamente di maggiori risorse, ma anche di altri tipi di risorse, diversificate e innovative e, possibilmente, prevedibili e stabili.

Il grande scandalo non è legato al fatto che la fame nel mondo esiste ancora, ma che essa persiste sebbene la comunità internazionale disponga dei mezzi per eliminarla. E' veramente giunta l'ora di passare ai fatti.

  Karin Scheele (PSE). – Herr Präsident! Die internationale Debatte um eine deutliche Steigerung der Entwicklungsfinanzierung durch führende Industrieländer hat sich verstärkt – und das ist das Trostszenario –, weil wir mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit die Entwicklungsziele, die sich die internationale Gemeinschaft am Beginn dieses Jahrtausends gesetzt hat, nicht erreichen werden.

Es herrscht international Konsens, dass ein merklicher Zuwachs an öffentlichen Entwicklungsfinanzmitteln zur Erreichung der Millenniumsziele und damit zur Halbierung der Armut in Entwicklungsländern erforderlich ist. Das OECD-Entwicklungszentrum unterstreicht in seinem Bericht aus dem Jahre 2004, wie wesentlich die Geschwindigkeit ist, mit der die zusätzlichen Mittel zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Die Zeit und die steigende Armut in vielen der Entwicklungsländer drängen also. Das Europäische Parlament muss mit der Entschließung weiterhin Druck ausüben, damit alle Mitgliedstaaten so schnell wie möglich die 0,7 %-Schwelle für die Mittel, die der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit zur Verfügung gestellt werden, erreichen und damit jene Mitgliedstaaten – mein eigener gehört dazu –, die noch keinen Plan haben, wie dieses Vorhaben bis 2015 realisiert werden soll, so schnell wie möglich einen Plan erstellen.

Es ist auch wichtig, dass wir unterstreichen, dass es bei diesen innovativen Finanzierungsmethoden immer um zusätzliche Mittel geht. Es dürfen keine Finanzierungsformen gefunden werden, die bereits von uns eingegangene Verpflichtungen finanzieren. Es wurde schon darauf hingewiesen, dass ein Weg, um die notwendigen entwicklungspolitischen Finanzmittel zu verdoppeln, die International Financial Facility ist. Ich finde es jedoch schade, dass im vorliegenden Kompromiss manch andere Wege, die notwendig sein werden, um in Zukunft genügend Geld zur Verfügung zu stellen, nicht berücksichtigt werden. Vielleicht könnten wir das morgen noch verbessern.

  Michel Rocard (PSE). – Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Commissaire, cela fait trente ans maintenant que les pays riches sont incapables de remplir l'engagement qu'ils ont pris devant l'ONU d'élever leur aide au développement à 0,7%. C'est un scandale et nous sommes tous ici pour rechercher des idées neuves.

Je trouve très regrettable que la Commission en ait si peu et que la communication qu'on vous a chargé de lire soit aussi creuse. Vous n'avez même pas cité l'idée britannique de la taxation des mouvements de capitaux. Vous n'avez cité qu'une idée française de taxation des mouvements d'avions. Dans cette quête d'idées neuves, laissez-moi vous en proposer une de plus.

La Commission, dans son document du mois d'avril de l'année dernière, je crois, émettait l'idée d'une loterie mondiale. Le commissaire Michel, interrogé par mes soins, ici même en séance, a reconnu que c'était une possibilité. Vous ne l'avez même pas reprise. Monsieur le Commissaire, je la crois plus facile à réaliser que beaucoup d'autres.

Le Programme alimentaire mondial, qui a repris cette idée pour l'étudier, a conclu, qu'avec quatre tirages annuels par an sur la base d'une évaluation minimale de 1% du chiffre d'affaires du jeu dans nos pays, on récolterait 400 millions de dollars par an que le Programme alimentaire mondial propose d'affecter à la lutte contre la faim des enfants dans le monde. Pourquoi la Commission n'a-t-elle pas fait sienne cette idée? Je n'ai aucun plaisir à chercher une solution en dehors de nos budgets: nos pays devraient être assez sérieux pour élever leurs engagements au niveau de leurs promesses, mais comme ils n'en sont pas capables, cette nouvelle idée a au moins le mérite de ne gêner personne et d'être sans contrainte, si ce n'est l'autorisation légale, dans chacun de nos États, d'affecter cette part de profit au Programme alimentaire mondial plutôt qu'à l'État local. C'est facile à faire. Je suggère donc à la Commission d'en prendre l'initiative et d'inciter fermement nos États à la mettre en œuvre.

  Presidente. Comunico di aver ricevuto cinque proposte di risoluzione ai sensi dell'articolo 103, paragrafo 2, del regolamento.

La discussione è chiusa.

La votazione si svolgerà giovedì, alle 10.00.