Fear EU aid budget could be merged with new foreign policy

IRELAND is one of the countries afraid the European Union will be forced to link its annual €7 billion development aid budget to a new aggressive foreign policy aimed at fighting terrorism and illegal immigrants.

Seven Union members, including Ireland, and supported by 270 non governmental agencies working in development warned that this is what will result from proposals before the Convention on the Future of Europe.

The EU is one of the world's largest aid donors and traditionally has not linked its aid to achieving objectives other than respect for human rights.

But over the past few years the multi million euro development arm of the EU has been under attack and now looks like being merged with a new Foreign Relations portfolio in a newly reorganised EU.

The Convention that is preparing a Constitution to define and guide the Union for the future is considering a report that says aid should be considered as one of the tools Europe has at its disposal to maximise its influence in the world.

Ireland's Development Minister Tom Kitt with ministers from Austria, Belgium, Britain, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden have jointly called on the Convention to make sure the EU continues to have an independent development arm reflecting the values of the EU. They want this written into the proposed new Constitution. They are afraid that the aims of the Community aid budget will be changed and warn on the devastating effect this could have on the Least Developed Countries of the world.

This is supported by Europe Affairs Minister Dick Roche, who represents the Government at the Convention, who said Ireland is fighting to ensure an independent development policy is incorporated into the new Treaty.

A statement from BOND that represents 270 NGOs said the Convention has been dominated by a narrow foreign policy agenda in an effort to tackle recent European divisions over international events, such as the war in Iraq. There is no denying that a political body like the Convention will indeed react to recent political events. And there is the danger that their work will be more focused on narrow details rather than the broader picture.

The dangers of this in relation to development aid were outlined by Richard Bennett the General Secretary of BOND when he said, "Across Europe the trend is to subordinate development policies and institutions to trade and security goals. Aid is for poverty reduction and sustainable development, not propping up allies in a war on terror, economic partners on our borders or preventing immigration. We risk confusing different and even conflicting means and ends".

He added that Convention proposals for the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy reflected neo-conservative foreign policy discussions, with development commitments becoming dependent on the countries agreeing to the security objectives of the war on terror. Political commentators are saying that the US has decided to pursue its national interests using the methods it is best at military might. Europe has identified its strength as the art of diplomacy. In many ways the enlargement of the EU to include the former totalitarian countries of eastern Europe is a triumph of diplomacy.

Whether abandoning this method in favour of the hard power exercised by the US, especially in relation to development aid must be questioned.

EU Development Commissioner Poul Nielson has warned that EU humanitarian aid risks losing its impartial nature and becoming a tool for wider policy objectives under current proposals before the Convention. "In the ongoing debate about Europe's future, some protagonists would prefer to attach humanitarian aid to an all-encompassing common foreign and security policy machine. This would be a mistake, a serious mistake", he said.