EU: International Development Policies (Hansard, 9 December 1997)

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, we seek to influence the European Union both through our formal role in the decision-making process and by regular contact at all levels. Improving the poverty focus of the European Union's aid programme is a key objective. We are pursuing that in discussions in relation to the future of the Lome agreement. We shall take that forward during the UK presidency in work on securing commitments to international development targets and in following up the poverty resolution agreed in 1993.

§ The Earl of Sandwich
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that long and far-reaching Answer. Does he not agree that the British presidency provides us with a unique opportunity to influence EU development aid? Does he accept that the OECD targets provide a good objective and that we could allocate more aid to social sectors and civil society and delegate more decision-making powers away from the Commission into both overseas projects and local partners?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, the objectives which the noble Earl describes are the Government's objectives: to focus the aid programme on the poorest countries; and within much of our aid programme for all countries, to focus on the poorest sectors. That involves many of the social objectives to which the noble Earl referred. During our presidency I am sure that my right honourable friend will take the opportunity to steer the discussion among European Ministers to those ends.

§ Lord Steel of Aikwood
My Lords, does the Minister agree that one way in which we could influence the European Union in its development programmes is by trying to speed up the major capital works to which it is already committed? I am 8 thinking, for example, of the Nacala port and railway corridor in Mozambique which is taking a painfully long time to come to fruition.

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, we are aware of inefficiencies in the programme both on the ground and within the European Commission itself. Indeed. the Secretary of State has referred to some of those inefficiencies, and the capital programme requires special attention, which it will be given.

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, is the Minister aware that some of those inefficiencies within the European Union could be solved if some of the work were undertaken by member nations working with the European Union? I do not suggest repatriation programmes. However, a number of nations, not only this one, have very good teams which could implement those projects much more speedily and cost effectively than is currently happening in the European Union. Would the Minister please ask the Secretary of State to look at that matter?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, certainly, without prejudice to the delivery of our bilateral programmes, it is our view that the expertise present in this country and in the DfID in particular could be used to greater effect by the Commission and in the European Union's programmes, and we are certainly looking at that.

§ Lord Redesdale
My Lords, will the Minister say whether the Government will use the presidency of the EU to put forward a European Union-wide ban on the practice of tied aid? That will go a great deal further than many other measures for making good use of aid.

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, your Lordships will be aware of the White Paper commitment on changing the direction of aid within this country. Of course, bilateral aid is a matter for each individual member state. It would be presumptuous of us to move into their areas. Nevertheless, I believe that there is something in what the noble Lord says and we shall be attempting a common approach on those matters across all the members of the European Union.

§ Lord Tebbit
My Lords, will the Minister persuade his colleagues in the European Community that one of the better ways in which to help developing countries in the third world would be if Europe were to desist from its protectionist agricultural policies which cause so much damage to the economies of third world countries as well as increasing the price of food to poor people in Europe itself?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, it is a fairly common position within this House that the CAP is as damaging to that dimension of our policy as it is to others. The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs have put the reform of the CAP 9 firmly back on the agenda. However, that desire does not take away from the need to develop development aid both bilaterally and through the European Union.

Lord Lucas
My Lords, are the Government prepared to make a statement about the particular aims which they hope to achieve during their presidency with regard to EU international aid? If not, are not their fine words just empty, as so many of their recent statements have proved to be?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, I think the noble Lord is not only broadening the debate but is also totally misrepresenting the record of this Government who have been far better at delivering their promises in the short time that they have been in office than were their predecessors.
As regards the part of the noble Lord's question which is relevant to this Question, we are moving up to the renegotiation of the Lomé agreement. Many of the principles which we set out in our White Paper will be applied within that context. We await the Commission's proposals in that area. We hope that within our presidency we shall establish a more effective negotiating position for the Lome agreement. That and some of the other objectives which have been referred to will form a major part of the development council's work in the British presidency.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, my noble friend has referred to the importance of the Lome agreement in this context. Will he inform the House about what will be the Government's position, together with their European partners, towards the multilateral agreement on investment in so far as it relates to the needs of the poorest countries of the world?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, that is a complex relationship which is primarily a matter for the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for International Development. However, there are aspects of that agreement which need to be taken into account and there are aspects which the WTO needs to take into account if they are not to prejudice some of the development aid of ourselves and our European partners.

Lord Lucas
My Lords, does the Minister recognise that he answers in this House for the whole Government, not just for one particular department, and that he should, therefore, give a rather more full answer to his noble friend Lord Judd?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, I believe that it is the tradition of the House that, as far as possible, supplementary questions are limited to the scope of the original Question. Certainly, I have no problem whatever in defending the total record of this Government. However, when a Question is tabled, the House deserves to have an Answer which relates primarily to it. I am not condemning my noble friend, or anyone else, for trying to broaden the discussion, but that is the tradition and I shall stick to it.