18 Amendments of Bart STAES related to 2010/2211(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Recital A (new)
Recital A (new)
A. whereas in many areas in the world, ecological degradation is the root cause of human deprivation; and whereas a lack of consideration for the environmental foundation of development can considerably reduce or even jeopardize the effectiveness of aid, while addressing environmental issues can enhance its values,
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital B (new)
Recital B (new)
B. whereas the Leading Group on innovative finance estimates the funding gap to meet the MDGs by 2015, the Official Development Assistance (ODA) target of 0.7% of GNI, and Environmental crisis targets, to $324-336 bn per year between 2012 and 2017,
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital C (new)
Recital C (new)
C. whereas the growth of the global economy has not been matched with effective means to levy global economic activity to pay for global public goods,
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Recital D (new)
Recital D (new)
D. whereas innovative financing are needed to meet MDGs and our commitment towards mitigation and adaptation to climate change,
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Recital E (new)
Recital E (new)
E. whereas EU's funding for international cooperation with Africa comes from three geographic instruments: the EDF for African-ACP countries, the TDCA for South Africa and the ENPI for five North African states; whereas fragmentation of instruments is detrimental to consistency and policy coherence, as enshrined in Article 208 of the Lisbon Treaty,
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Recital F (new)
Recital F (new)
F. whereas the Declaration on the European Development Fund, part of the Treaty of the EU, under the Final Act since the Maastricht Treaty, stipulating that the EDF should be outside the budget, has been removed in the Lisbon Treaty, thereby enabling the budgetisation of the FED,
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that the 2015 deadline for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) falls within the next multiannual financial framework period and that there is a real risk that the EU will not meet its international commitment on development; recalls also that the MDGs are minimum aspirations and that, even if all targets are met, significant additional funding will still be required to fight poverty and improve health and education standards for the world's poor; therefore insists that a benchmark of 20% of the Commission’s allocated assistance under country programmes covered by the DCI will be dedicated to basic and secondary education and basic health;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Recalls upon the need to develop global solidarity mechanism as a way to achieve the MDGs; but recalls also that the tax havens, trade mispricing and illicit capital flights represent a huge hindrance to development in poor countries; therefore, urges once more the EU to take initiatives with the ambit of the G20, the OECD and inside the EU to clamp down tax havens and harmful tax structure;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Highlights that new financing instruments are needed to fund the provision of global public goods; welcomes in this respect the report of the Taskforce on Financial Transactions for Development commissioned by the Leading Group on Innovative Financing for development according to which the financial sector is best suited to levy such innovative financing mechanism, considering that it is the primary beneficiary of the growth of the global economy; stresses also that the report concludes upon the technical, economical and legal feasibility of an international levy on currency transactions and on a tax on all financial transactions;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Calls on the Commission to propose the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax at the European level, in view of its numerous advantages: it can help to stabilise the markets, to raise funds for domestic fiscal consolidation as well as to face poverty eradication and climate change;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1 d. Recalls that innovative financing for development is not designed to be a substitute for ODA, but is complementary; takes the view that the introduction of a FTT should therefore be linked with a more binding commitment of all member countries to achieve the 0.7% objective of ODA spending and to provide additional climate adaptation funding;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1 e. Points out that one of the reasons why the MDGs are not fulfilled is the failure to recognise the contributions of the environment, natural resources and ecosystems to human development and poverty elimination; deplores in this context that current European Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocates only 3% of the total spending to environmental issues; urges the Commission to ensure that environmental issues are mainstreamed throughout all external policies and financial instruments, especially in the face of the current challenge of climate change and biodiversity loss;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 f (new)
Paragraph 1 f (new)
1 f. Emphasises that the Multiannual Financial Framework should address: fulfilment of the MDGs, climate change, halting the decline of biodiversity and resource overconsumption; in particular, stresses that the next Multi-annual Financial Framework should support policy coherence, meaning for instance to ensure that some EU expenditures relating to agriculture, fisheries, trade and energy will not directly contradict development policy objectives;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Underlines that the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty offers the opportunity to put in place a more coherent institutional framework within the EU to relate to the Joint Africa-UE Strategy and to ensure the strategic funding it needs to prosper;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that channelling funds to Africa through three different instruments is inefficient and does not respond to Africa's wish to develop as a unified continent; recommends, therefore, to developing a single financing instrument for Africa, taking into account the Africa-EU joint strategic partnership so as to reflect the "treating-Africa-as-one" principle enshrined in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) and supporting the continental integration agenda; calls, in addition, for greater capacity-building assistance for the African Union institutions;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Notes with concern that EU Aid benefits proportionally more Middle Income Countries than low income countries; in particular, points out that EU aid programming that aims to enable developing countries to adapt to the requirement of international competition benefits especially Middle Income Countries, rather than Low Income Countries, which are less attractive to foreign investment;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. CRecalls that the Lisbon Treaty removed the formal obstacle to the integration of the EDF into the regular EU budget; therefore, calls once again for the budgetisation of the European Development Fund (EDF), so as to increase parliamentary scrutiny of development spending in ACP countries and make EU development policy more consistent and effective; insists, however, that incorporating the EDF into the EU budget must not lead to an overall reduction in development spending with respect to the two separate existing instruments and must guarantee predictability; stresses also on the need to secure the interests of ACP countries, i.e. through ring-fencing development funds for the ACP within the EU budget;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Notes with concern that EU Aid does not clearly focus on poverty eradication; recalls that the concept of "development", which refers to qualitative criteria that encompasses quality of life and the improvement of living conditions, should not be confused with the concept of economic growth, as measured by the rise of GDP; accordingly, urges the Commission to refrain from a simple "export-led" or "growth-oriented" development policy but to target its assistance on the most vulnerable, which entails the development of a pro-poor strategy, through the financing of long- term objectives, such as health, education, access to energy in rural areas, small farmers, etc.;