BETA


2005/2141(INI) Aid effectiveness and corruption in developing countries

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead DEVE VAN DEN BERG Margrietus (icon: PSE PSE)
Committee Opinion INTA
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 54

Events

2006/06/30
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2006/05/11
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2006/04/06
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2006/04/06
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2006/04/06
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Margrietus van den BERG (PES, NL) on aid effectiveness and corruption in developing countries. (Please see the report of 20/02/2006.) It pointed to World Bank estimates that more than USD 1 000 000 million is paid in bribes every year throughout the world and the African Union estimates that corruption costs African economies more than 25% of Africa's GDP annually. Parliament called on the Commission to focus more specifically, in designing its development programmes, on issues of accountability and transparency, saying weak accountability mechanisms tend to facilitate corruption.

Parliament underlined the following:

- the need to support national parliaments in developing countries in their work as budget authorities by means of dialogue, information-sharing and capacity-building;

- the important role that a free and independent media can play in the fight against corruption. There should be greater EU support for projects assisting or strengthening such media in partner countries;

- the need to contribute to strengthening the legal system in those countries;

- the important role played by women also in the fight against corruption and the need for better education of women and girls;

- the importance of investment in the developing countries;

- the importance of the establishment of watchdogs by civil society in developing countries, requiring a system of checks and balances of their government; the Commission should reserve an appropriate percentage of budget aid for civil society watchdogs;

- the need for capacity-building in central and local institutions to combat corruption, especially in the light of the increase in aid given in the form of budget aid;

- the granting of budget aid must always be carefully preceded by fiduciary risk assessments on a case-by-case basis;

- budget aid should always be earmarked for a specific sector;

- there are major corruption risks involved in public procurement procedures and, consequently, transparent procurement rules and procedures should be promoted as a key priority.

Parliament called for more transparency in programmes for budget aid granted by the EU, including publication of the relevant information about the aid spent in the recipient country, and by involving parliaments and informing civil players in this process. The EU, as co-chair of the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Programme (PEFA), which provides a harmonized framework for assessing fiduciary risk in recipient countries, should include specific indicators to measure the level of corruption.

Parliament made several other recommendations, inter alia:

- Member States should promote a legally binding international instrument on the tracing and the marking of SALW and ammunition as soon as possible, and support regional initiatives to combat the illicit trade in SALW and their ammunition in the developing countries;

- there should be further enforcement of to the "Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative" in order to ensure the disclosure of information about payments between governments of developing countries and multinationals;

- Member States with financial centres must take all necessary legal and administrative action to ensure that illicitly acquired funds can be repatriated to the State of origin;

- the Commission and the Member States should establish an international system of blacklisting to prevent banks from lending large sums of money to corrupt regimes or individuals representing a government;

Finally, Parliament called upon the Commission and the Member States to ban public purchasing or procurement contracts with companies whose employees have been involved in corrupt activities with government ministers or officials or in any other way within a developing country, if those employees are not subject to disciplinary proceedings. Member States must refer such cases to the appropriate prosecution authorities.

Documents
2006/04/06
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2006/02/28
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
Documents
2006/02/28
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Documents
2006/02/20
   EP - Vote in committee
Details

The committee adopted the own-initiative report by Margrietus van den BERG (PES, NL) on aid effectiveness and corruption in developing countries. MEPs pointed out that corruption hurts the poor disproportionately, restricting their access to public goods and lowering the quality of basic services. Many actors - including politicians, government officials, civil society, the media, multinationals and international donors - had a role to play in the fight against corruption. The report called on all the EU Member States to ratify the 1997 OECD Convention on the Bribery of Public Officials and the 2003 UN Convention against Corruption. And it urged the Commission and the Member States to establish "an international system of blacklisting to prevent banks from lending large sums of money to corrupt regimes or individuals representing a government".

MEPs asked the Commission, when designing its development programmes, to focus more specifically on issues of accountability and transparency. They stressed the need to support national parliaments in developing countries in their work as budget authorities by means of dialogue, information-sharing and capacity-building. The EU should also give greater support to projects assisting or strengthening a free and independent media in partner countries. The report stressed the need for the establishment of watchdogs by civil society in developing countries, involving a system of checks and balances of their governments, and called on the Commission to support this process by reserving an appropriate percentage of budget aid for civil society watchdogs.

Other recommendations included: more transparency in EU budget aid programmes, with the publication of information on the aid spent in each recipient country; the earmarking of budget aid for a specific sector; and the provision of technical and financial support for regional initiatives such as the African Peer Review Mechanism. Lastly, MEPs called on Member States with major financial centres on their territory to take legal and administrative measures to ensure that funds acquired illegally are repatriated to the country of origin.

2006/02/06
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2005/09/08
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2005/05/24
   EP - VAN DEN BERG Margrietus (PSE) appointed as rapporteur in DEVE

Documents

Activities

Votes

Rapport Van den Berg A6-0048/2006 - par. 15 #

2006/04/06 Outcome: +: 511, -: 5, 0: 2
DE FR PL GB ES NL IT BE EL CZ HU PT SE AT DK FI SK IE LT LV SI MT LU EE CY
Total
79
64
49
51
28
25
20
20
19
18
17
17
16
15
13
11
11
9
8
6
6
5
5
4
2
icon: PPE-DE PPE-DE
189

Denmark PPE-DE

For (1)

1
2

Latvia PPE-DE

For (1)

1

Malta PPE-DE

2

Luxembourg PPE-DE

3

Estonia PPE-DE

For (1)

1

Cyprus PPE-DE

1
icon: PSE PSE
155

Czechia PSE

For (1)

1

Ireland PSE

1

Lithuania PSE

For (1)

1

Slovenia PSE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg PSE

For (1)

1

Estonia PSE

2
icon: ALDE ALDE
60

Spain ALDE

1

Italy ALDE

2

Sweden ALDE

For (1)

1

Austria ALDE

1

Finland ALDE

3

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Latvia ALDE

1

Slovenia ALDE

For (1)

1

Estonia ALDE

For (1)

1

Cyprus ALDE

For (1)

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
32

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

4

Spain Verts/ALE

2

Italy Verts/ALE

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Sweden Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Austria Verts/ALE

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
23

France GUE/NGL

3

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

2

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1
icon: UEN UEN
20

Denmark UEN

For (1)

1

Ireland UEN

2

Lithuania UEN

1
icon: NI NI
21

United Kingdom NI

Against (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Italy NI

For (1)

1

Belgium NI

2

Czechia NI

1

Austria NI

For (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Slovakia NI

1
icon: IND/DEM IND/DEM
18

United Kingdom IND/DEM

4

Netherlands IND/DEM

2

Italy IND/DEM

For (1)

1

Czechia IND/DEM

1

Sweden IND/DEM

2

Denmark IND/DEM

1

Ireland IND/DEM

For (1)

1

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

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activities
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  • date: 2006-02-20T00:00:00 body: EP committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: DEVE date: 2005-05-24T00:00:00 committee_full: Development rapporteur: group: PSE name: VAN DEN BERG Margrietus body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2006-02-28T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2006-48&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A6-0048/2006 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
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docs
  • date: 2005-11-17T00:00:00 docs: title: PE365.027 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2006-02-06T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE369.874 title: PE369.874 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
  • date: 2006-02-28T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2006-48&language=EN title: A6-0048/2006 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP
  • date: 2006-05-11T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=4576&j=1&l=en title: SP(2006)2095 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
  • date: 2006-06-30T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=4576&j=0&l=en title: SP(2006)2311/2 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
events
  • date: 2005-09-08T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2006-02-20T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP summary: The committee adopted the own-initiative report by Margrietus van den BERG (PES, NL) on aid effectiveness and corruption in developing countries. MEPs pointed out that corruption hurts the poor disproportionately, restricting their access to public goods and lowering the quality of basic services. Many actors - including politicians, government officials, civil society, the media, multinationals and international donors - had a role to play in the fight against corruption. The report called on all the EU Member States to ratify the 1997 OECD Convention on the Bribery of Public Officials and the 2003 UN Convention against Corruption. And it urged the Commission and the Member States to establish "an international system of blacklisting to prevent banks from lending large sums of money to corrupt regimes or individuals representing a government". MEPs asked the Commission, when designing its development programmes, to focus more specifically on issues of accountability and transparency. They stressed the need to support national parliaments in developing countries in their work as budget authorities by means of dialogue, information-sharing and capacity-building. The EU should also give greater support to projects assisting or strengthening a free and independent media in partner countries. The report stressed the need for the establishment of watchdogs by civil society in developing countries, involving a system of checks and balances of their governments, and called on the Commission to support this process by reserving an appropriate percentage of budget aid for civil society watchdogs. Other recommendations included: more transparency in EU budget aid programmes, with the publication of information on the aid spent in each recipient country; the earmarking of budget aid for a specific sector; and the provision of technical and financial support for regional initiatives such as the African Peer Review Mechanism. Lastly, MEPs called on Member States with major financial centres on their territory to take legal and administrative measures to ensure that funds acquired illegally are repatriated to the country of origin.
  • date: 2006-02-28T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2006-48&language=EN title: A6-0048/2006
  • date: 2006-04-06T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=4576&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2006-04-06T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20060406&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2006-04-06T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2006-141 title: T6-0141/2006 summary: The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Margrietus van den BERG (PES, NL) on aid effectiveness and corruption in developing countries. (Please see the report of 20/02/2006.) It pointed to World Bank estimates that more than USD 1 000 000 million is paid in bribes every year throughout the world and the African Union estimates that corruption costs African economies more than 25% of Africa's GDP annually. Parliament called on the Commission to focus more specifically, in designing its development programmes, on issues of accountability and transparency, saying weak accountability mechanisms tend to facilitate corruption. Parliament underlined the following: - the need to support national parliaments in developing countries in their work as budget authorities by means of dialogue, information-sharing and capacity-building; - the important role that a free and independent media can play in the fight against corruption. There should be greater EU support for projects assisting or strengthening such media in partner countries; - the need to contribute to strengthening the legal system in those countries; - the important role played by women also in the fight against corruption and the need for better education of women and girls; - the importance of investment in the developing countries; - the importance of the establishment of watchdogs by civil society in developing countries, requiring a system of checks and balances of their government; the Commission should reserve an appropriate percentage of budget aid for civil society watchdogs; - the need for capacity-building in central and local institutions to combat corruption, especially in the light of the increase in aid given in the form of budget aid; - the granting of budget aid must always be carefully preceded by fiduciary risk assessments on a case-by-case basis; - budget aid should always be earmarked for a specific sector; - there are major corruption risks involved in public procurement procedures and, consequently, transparent procurement rules and procedures should be promoted as a key priority. Parliament called for more transparency in programmes for budget aid granted by the EU, including publication of the relevant information about the aid spent in the recipient country, and by involving parliaments and informing civil players in this process. The EU, as co-chair of the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Programme (PEFA), which provides a harmonized framework for assessing fiduciary risk in recipient countries, should include specific indicators to measure the level of corruption. Parliament made several other recommendations, inter alia: - Member States should promote a legally binding international instrument on the tracing and the marking of SALW and ammunition as soon as possible, and support regional initiatives to combat the illicit trade in SALW and their ammunition in the developing countries; - there should be further enforcement of to the "Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative" in order to ensure the disclosure of information about payments between governments of developing countries and multinationals; - Member States with financial centres must take all necessary legal and administrative action to ensure that illicitly acquired funds can be repatriated to the State of origin; - the Commission and the Member States should establish an international system of blacklisting to prevent banks from lending large sums of money to corrupt regimes or individuals representing a government; Finally, Parliament called upon the Commission and the Member States to ban public purchasing or procurement contracts with companies whose employees have been involved in corrupt activities with government ministers or officials or in any other way within a developing country, if those employees are not subject to disciplinary proceedings. Member States must refer such cases to the appropriate prosecution authorities.
  • date: 2006-04-06T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
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activities
  • date: 2005-09-08T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: DEVE date: 2005-05-24T00:00:00 committee_full: Development rapporteur: group: PSE name: VAN DEN BERG Margrietus body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
  • date: 2006-02-20T00:00:00 body: EP committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: DEVE date: 2005-05-24T00:00:00 committee_full: Development rapporteur: group: PSE name: VAN DEN BERG Margrietus body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2006-02-28T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2006-48&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A6-0048/2006 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • date: 2006-04-06T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=4576&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20060406&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2006-141 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T6-0141/2006 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
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  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: International Trade committee: INTA
links
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  • body: EC dg: Development
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reference
2005/2141(INI)
title
Aid effectiveness and corruption in developing countries
legal_basis
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 052
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Procedure completed
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Initiative
type
INI - Own-initiative procedure
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6.30 Development cooperation