HC Deb 10 March 1999 vol 327 cc353-5
6. Mr. John Wilkinson (Ruislip-Northwood)

When she last met the EU Commissioner for overseas development aid to discuss the priorities of the EU development aid programme. [73834]

9. Mr. James Gray (North Wiltshire)

What steps she will take to ensure value for money in the EU aid budget. [73837]

11. Mr. Tom Levitt (High Peak)

What action her Department is taking to ensure that a greater proportion of EU development assistance is allocated to the least developed countries. [73841]

The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short)

I met Commissioner Pinheiro at a ministerial meeting in Dakar on 8 and 9 February to discuss successor arrangements to the Lomé convention. I had wider discussions on the EU's development efforts—including value for money and redirecting resources to the poorest countries—with Commissioners Pinheiro and Bonino and my EU colleagues at the Development Council in November. I gave them a clear chart showing how distorted current spending is. I expect to see most of them again in Berlin next week. I am doing everything in my power at all such meetings to achieve a commitment to more effective EU development programmes that are focused much more on the poorest countries.

Mr. Wilkinson

Did the right hon. Lady give Commissioner Pinheiro a copy of the first report of the Select Committee on International Development on the future of the EC development budget? The report states quite clearly that the Commission has no intention of allowing 'the war against poverty to figure among the top priorities of international relations.' Is it not disgraceful that the European Union should be the vehicle for so much of our external assistance when it disburses only 41 per cent. of the external assistance programme to the poorest countries, whereas the United Kingdom disburses no less than 70 per cent? Therefore should we not, for the financial perspective 2000–2006, say to the European Union, "We will do it ourselves and make sure that the poorest countries benefit."?

Clare Short

I agree with the hon. Gentleman almost completely. The Select Committee report was excellent, and I did not have to take it to Commissioner Pinheiro. He knew that it was coming and had already obtained a copy, and was somewhat sensitive to the criticism, which shows that the report is a valuable piece of work. I also agree that the skew of EU programmes against the poorest countries is an absolute scandal and a disgrace. I do not want just to blame the previous Administration, but I think they could have done more, and we are trying to achieve some reform.

I also agree with the hon. Gentleman that we should impose on the next settlement conditions that try to achieve much better programmes. It is worth allowing the EU to have development programmes, because no country can work in every country, but we need a big improvement in performance. The current situation is completely unsatisfactory.

Mr. Gray

For a second or two I was encouraged by the fact that the Secretary of State seemed to agree with my hon. Friend about how important it is that the United Kingdom should decide how the £700 million is spent, but I was rather disappointed by the second half of her answer. Is she not worried about the strength of criticism, from the non-governmental organisations in particular, about the fraud and corruption, the mis-spending and the EU bureaucracy which are bogging down British taxpayers' money? That money is not getting through to the poorest people in the world.

Clare Short

I am not worried by the strength of NGO criticism; I am trying to get the NGOs to voice their criticisms more loudly. I am doing my best to encourage British NGOs to work with NGOs throughout the European Union to achieve a united and stronger voice of critical public opinion across the EU, and to achieve an improvement. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that the current situation is not good enough. We need much louder demands in all our Parliaments and from our publics for an improvement, which could easily be made if there was enough will to achieve one.

Mr. Levitt

My right hon. Friend has given us a helpful answer in respect of the Council of Ministers. Will she now build on that, and tell us what contact she has had with Members of the European Parliament with the aim of focusing EU aid more effectively on the poorest countries?

Clare Short

My hon. Friend makes an important point. The European Parliament now has a much greater say in the budget. We have been working hard to make allies not only in non-governmental organisations across Europe, but in the Parliament. We want much stronger pressure to be applied to the Parliament for an improvement in programmes.

My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary visited the Parliament a couple of months ago, and I have visited it twice. I have also paid a visit to the Development and Co-operation Committee. We are working hard at finding allies in order to secure improvements.

Mr. Bill O'Brien (Normanton)

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the work that she is doing to aid poorer countries overseas. In the context of the negotiations with the European Commissioner, however, will she have regard to the work of the Council of Churches in the United Kingdom, which is also working hard to help people in those poorer countries, with health and education in particular?

Clare Short

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. We are working a good deal with the Churches, both in the debt campaign and in the attempt to initiate a worldwide Churches campaign demanding that the Governments concerned meet the international poverty eradication targets subscribed to—in theory—by all countries.

I agree with my hon. Friend that the Churches do great work, but there is more that we can do together.

Mr. Bowen Wells (Hertford and Stortford)

Does the Secretary of State agree that trade must happen along with aid, so that people in third-world countries can help themselves? Will she join me in trying to persuade the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister that President Clinton should in turn be persuaded to call off the war against the small countries of the eastern Caribbean over the banana trade?

Clare Short

I agree: the developing countries must escape from the need for aid through the ability to trade, to build up their economies and to stand on their own two feet. The more chances that we can provide for them to do that, the better.

I also agree with the hon. Gentleman that the conflict over bananas is very serious and worrying. The banana trade, so important to fragile Caribbean economies, is at stake; but so is a rules-based system for international trade. If we lost that system and slid back into protectionism, the whole world would pay a huge price.