New challenges in EU international development action

“International development aid offered by the European Union plays an eminent role in addressing the current challenges of the 21st century in recipient countries, especially in Africa” - said MEP György Hölvényi at the 33rd session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Malta. 

At the plenary debate on the report on aid effectiveness MEP Hölvényi stressed on behalf of the EPP Group: “Security is a precondition for all successful aid efforts. Without addressing security, effective development aid will remain impossible in conflict-hit regions, most notably in Africa”. According to the EPP Group shadow rapporteur on the dossier, focusing simply on poverty issues is not sufficient in itself anymore. “In a deeply unsafe environment we just can not fight corruption, political fragility, migration and mass displacement” - he underlined.

The member of the EP Committee on Development recalled the fact that development instruments today play an eminent role in effectively addressing the challenge of massive displacement of populations in the world. “Reducing the negative impacts of mass migration is a mutual interest of donors and beneficiaries” - he reminded.

The EPP is also convinced that in the context of development assistance, faith-based organisations have numerous experience and are major contributors to the common good of societies in need as they are able to offer best practice models in providing aid effectively. In fact, faith-based relief organisations are often the only entities that assist populations in extreme situations in developing or war-torn regions. While through EPP political action, progress has been made for the recognition of this special role at European level, still much has to be done in order to better involve faith-based organisations in the realisation of EU aid programmes. “Governments of Member States shall have a key role in persuading the European Commission to create systematic and substantive cooperations with these organisations in order to further improve results of aid on the ground” - MEP György Hölvényi stressed.