Development aid must come with conditions

The European Parliament voted today to make development aid conditional on cooperation with the EU on migration management. This is a notable shift in the approach to development policy showing that the majorities in Parliament have changed. The EPP Group has been calling for such a conditionality for years.

“We need to make better use of all the different tools and best practices on how to achieve better aid efficiency. I welcome that we now have a majority in favour of using European development aid as a broader tool for climate and environmental action, economic and trade policies and migration management. It is an important shift away from the obsolete donor-recipient mentality we used to have”, said Tomas Tobé MEP, Chairman of the Development Committee and responsible for the Report on improving development effectiveness and the efficiency of aid.

Insisting that one of the overarching objectives of EU development aid policy must also be to address the root causes of migration, Tobé argued: "The focus should be on assisting the development of stable institutions in our neighbourhood to promote societal development."

The Report also focuses on improving the coordination between EU development aid and bilateral aid from Member States.