Activities of Alain HUTCHINSON related to 2008/2128(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
The MDG contracts (short presentation)
Reports (1)
REPORT on MDG contracts PDF (165 KB) DOC (102 KB)
Amendments (28)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 21 a (new)
Citation 21 a (new)
- having regard to Court of Auditors' Special Report No 10/2008 on 'EC Development Assistance to Health Services in Sub-Saharan Africa', together with the Commission's replies,
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. having regard to the fresh undertakings given by the Commission and the EU Member States in 2007 that they will make a significant contribution to getting the work of meeting these goals back on schedule,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the MDG contracts could offer a further means of meeting the challenges posed in the developing countries by the world food crisis, in particular in the farming sector,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas Parliament is being asked to grant a discharge in respect of the EDF,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas teachers and health workers in the developing countries are currently working in deplorable conditions, whereas almost two million teachers and more than four million health workers are needed if the MDGs are to be achieved, and whereas they could be recruited and trained if adequate levels of budget support were to be provided,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas the recurring lack of health workers and teachers is being exacerbated by the brain drain organised by the rich countries,
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas, despite the undertakings they gave in Monterrey (2002), Gleneagles (2005), Paris (2005) and Accra (2008) to improve the quantity and quality of development aid, many EU Member States still do not grant all the aid they have pledged to provide, and whereas, when they do provide that aid, some proves inappropriate,
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)
Recital H b (new)
Hb. whereas in 30% of cases delays occur in the disbursement of the budget support provided by the Commission, as a result of the excessively cumbersome nature of its administrative procedures,
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H c (new)
Recital H c (new)
Hc. whereas the lack of predictability in the provision of budget support is in particular the result of the annual nature of most of the conditions attaching to the provision of that support, and whereas this lack of predictability sometimes forces the recipient countries to spend the support before it has actually been provided and without being certain that it ever will be provided,
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H d (new)
Recital H d (new)
Hd. whereas this lack of predictability in the provision of European development aid also affects those recipient countries which offer a degree of legal security and a stable regulatory environment,
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H e (new)
Recital H e (new)
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H f (new)
Recital H f (new)
Hf. whereas a recent study conducted by Oxfam found that more than half of the performance indicators linked to the general budget support agreements concluded by the Commission call for direct improvements in the level of health and education of the poor, in particular girls and women, who bear the greatest burden of poverty, and whereas that study also suggests that, even if it has not been solely responsible, this support provided by the Commission has at least altered living conditions for the poor,
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H g (new)
Recital H g (new)
Hg. Whereas, although budget support already constitutes one instrument which can be used to improve the provision of aid by the EU, it would benefit from being more predictable and granted for longer periods,
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N a (new)
Recital N a (new)
Na. whereas the Commission proposal to conclude contracts for a period of six years goes beyond the current practice employed by other donors at world level,
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N b (new)
Recital N b (new)
Nb. having regard to the Commission's appeal to the Member States to co-finance the MDG contracts by means of additional, voluntary contributions to the EDF,
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N c (new)
Recital N c (new)
Nc. whereas no changes are needed to the MDG contracts, which form part of the general budget support instrument drawn up on the basis of the criteria laid down in the Cotonou Agreement, in respect of decisions concerning the programmes already under way and the differences in the arrangements for providing general budget support, whereas the MDG contracts do not entail the establishment of a new financial instrument, and thus continue to be based on the budget support provisions set out in the Cotonou Agreement, and whereas, by the same token, the MDG contracts are still consistent with the internal guidelines governing general budget support which were recently finalised,
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital T a (new)
Recital T a (new)
Ta. whereas the budget support provided by the Commission suffers from a serious lack of transparency and of ownership by the poor countries, and whereas the funding agreements are only rarely made public,
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital U a 8new)
Recital U a 8new)
Ua. whereas, to take just one example, no one in Burkina Faso was aware that an MDG contract was being negotiated between that country and the Commission, and whereas no information on that subject is currently available on the website of the European Commission delegation in Burkina Faso,
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital V a (new)
Recital V a (new)
Va. whereas Commission budget support is generally granted only to countries which have implemented an IMF programme, but whereas such programmes may limit the capacity of the governments concerned to invest in development, by virtue of the inflation and budget deficit targets set by the IMF,
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital W a (new)
Recital W a (new)
Wa. whereas budget support agreements have already been concluded between the Commission and Burkina Faso (2005- 2008), Ethiopia (2003-2006), Ghana (2007-2009), Kenya (2004-2006), Madagascar (2005-2007), Malawi (2006- 2008), Mali (2003-2007), Mozambique (2006-2008), Tanzania (2006-2008), Uganda (2005-2007) and Zambia (2007- 2008),
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital W b (new)
Recital W b (new)
Wb. whereas there are some 650 million disabled persons in the world, whereas 80% of them live in the developing countries, and whereas one in five of them live under the extreme poverty threshold; whereas, moreover, they are victims of many forms of discrimination and rarely have access to basic health care and education,
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital W c (new)
Recital W c (new)
Wc. having regard to the report on the implementation of the Africa-EU Partnership of 22 November 2008, and in particular paragraph 37 thereof, which emphasises the failure to take action to assist disabled persons in the context of the efforts to achieve the MDGs,
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Draws attention to the objective set in the Abuja Declaration of earmarking 15% of national budgets for the health sector, and the objective set by the Global Campaign for Education of earmarking 20% of national budgets for education;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the governments of the developing countries to increase their health spending to 15% of their national budgets (in accordance with the recommendations set out in the Abuja Declaration) and their education spending to 20% of national budgets (as called for by the Global Campaign for Education;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Reiterates that the national indicative programmes should be drawn up in cooperation with the parliaments of the countries concerned, the Joint Parliamentary Assembly and civil society;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls on the Member States to make their collective voice heard on the IMF Executive Board with a view to encouraging the IMF to withdraw from countries which have achieved a certain level of macroeconomic stability and to introduce more flexible sets of rules in the other countries in which it is involved;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Calls on the Commission to withdraw with immediate effect all the economic policy conditions attaching to budget support and the other harmful conditions imposed indirectly through the incentives to introduce better governance, the pressure to conclude economic partnership agreements or the obligation to obtain IMF approval; in particular, the Commission should abandon its practice of making support contingent on IMF approval and, at the same time, exert pressure on the IMF, together with the other main budget support donors, with a view to gaining acceptance for more flexible financial objectives and more ambitious spending scenarios; in the case of countries which have achieved macroeconomic stability, calls on the Commission to work with the other donors with a view to facilitating the IMF's prompt withdrawal;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Draws attention to the fact that it is essential for the Commission to continue to link budget support to the recipient countries' performance with regard to taking the gender dimension into account and promoting women's rights, and calls on it to strengthen the gender-related performance indicators linked to budget support by broadening their scope to include other areas, such as the rights of the disabled and women's rights, in particular measures to facilitate access for all women to information about sexual and reproductive health and to universal sexual and reproductive health services; improved access to and greater use of family planning methods; long-term measures to promote women's education and emancipation; and measures to combat sex discrimination and foster gender equality;