According to the AidWatch2020 report issued by CONCORD Europe, European Union member states are even further off-track in meeting their (genuine) aid target of 0.7% of their national income to be funneled to Official Development Assistance by 2030. The report notes that this makes the chances of meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals even more remote.
The authors of the report estimate that the entire EU will be unable to achieve the aid target volume by no earlier than 2070. However, the amount channeled by EU member states within the framework of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) increased by €3 billion in 2019, this had dropped for the third consecutive year in proportion to the EU Gross National Income. This trend was therefore visible even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The EU member states had repeatedly committed to contribute 0.7% of their GNI to ODA. Unfortunately, very few countries have adhered to this target which makes it more difficult to achieve the goal they had committed to reach by 2030. CONCORD also observed minimal progress in terms of support for the least developed countries. Although the COVID-19 outbreak has significantly worsened the financial situation of many underdeveloped countries, the EU has failed to increase the budget for development aid to address this issue. According to CONCORD, the EU has simply redirected money from other aid programs to deal with the needs of the pandemic response with no additional funding being made available. Development aid experts, with Tomás Nogueira, Advocacy Officer at Portuguese NGDO Platform being amongst them, claim that if the EU does not allocate more money to meet its international commitments it will not be possible to curb the economic and social consequences of the current pandemic, particularly in the poorest countries.
In addition, the CONCORD report indicated that there is a discrepancy between the actual amount of money allocated to meet ODA commitments and the amount that was declared by the EU member states. The ‘real’ EU aid gap is almost €51 billion, or 0.30% of GNI, while the reported gap was €41 billion, or 0.24% of GNI. This means that this gap has remained virtually unchanged since 2018, thus the COVID-19 pandemic has not affected EU policy.
The authors of the report conclude that the EU’s attitude towards development aid must change both in terms of the quantity and quality of ODA, particularly in view of the fact that the COVID-19 outbreak has significantly raised the needs of underdeveloped countries. CONCORD insists that the negative trend of decreasing financial expenditure for development assistance must be reversed and the ODA budget for 2021-2027 should meet the commitment of 0.7% of GNI. This is especially relevant in view of the wide-ranging and unprecedented financial crises triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in the poorest countries that will reveal even stronger inequalities between the countries.
