Thijs Berman, on behalf of the S&D Group. – (NL) Mr President, the Council of Ministers has set the right priorities for the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation since parliaments and civil society, to name but a few, ought indeed to be more involved in policy making when it comes to developing countries.

We also need to agree with the emerging economies, China and India, that they should take care of their own poor themselves. Obviously, our business community can play a greater role in the development of the economy in the south, but we must be careful that we do not return to tied aid, where development money flows back into our own pockets through orders placed with our businesses. However, what is essential for the European Union is to recognise that the effectiveness of development aid stands or falls on coherence of policy. For instance, the Council’s fine priorities will mean nothing as long as our businesses pay little or no tax in developing countries. If they had a healthy fiscal revenue, they would hardly need our financial support. I am therefore very pleased with the proposals by Michel Barnier of the Commission concerning the Transparency Directive, which are certainly coherent. We could certainly strengthen the detail of his proposals, but if we had insight into what European mining and forestry companies pay in poor countries, we could make those companies much more accountable.

Finally, what will the Commission do to ensure that Member States deliver on their pledges to spend 0.7 per cent of their gross national income on development cooperation in 2015? A call alone does not, unfortunately, appear to be enough. Obviously, this pledge is under severe pressure because of the economic crisis, but the least the Commission can do is to start the debate now, in a powerful way, about what needs to happen after 2015.