Eurostep weekly
Regular News Update from Eurostep, N° 498
10 March 2008
EU earmarks €160m for food aid
The European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) has earmarked an unprecedented €160m for food aid to combat severe food shortages. The EU estimates that around 18.7 million of the world’s most vulnerable people, living in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and North Africa, will benefit from these funds.
"Vulnerable people in many of the world's poorest countries are increasingly exposed to natural disasters, conflict and economic pressures that can rapidly lead to situations whereby people go hungry. The European Union has an essential role in providing them with food aid and in restoring food production" explained Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel.
Food aid will be concentrated where the need is greatest. So far, 17 priority areas have been named. These include: Burundi, Kenya, Nepal, Afghanistan, Colombia, Sudan, Chad, Somalia, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The €160m will fund efforts to: distribute food aid to distressed people in the aftermath of a natural disaster, epidemic or armed conflict; assist the nutritional recovery of vulnerable groups in crisis situations, with special attention to the under-fives and their mothers; re-establish rural community livelihoods through a "food for work" programme; and restore the basic livelihoods of vulnerable people returning home or resettling after a crisis.
Most of the projects will be implemented through the UN's World Food Programme. In its other activities on nutrition and short-term food security, the EU will be working with the Red Cross and other non-governmental organisations.
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The importance of South-South Cooperation
Those countries of the global South which have experienced sustained economic growth in recent years are increasingly in a position to offer economic assistance to other developing countries. There is currently a trend towards increased South-South flows of trade, investment and development assistance, much of it occurring outside the UN development system. This South-South co-operation has an important part to play in facilitating development and promoting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
In a recent interview, Kemal Dervis, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme at UNDP, stressed the growing importance of South-South cooperation in UNDP’s work and affirmed that UNDP’s strategic plan for 2008-2011 includes a strong emphasis on South-South cooperation.
Dervis commented: “The growing importance of South-South cooperation goes hand-in-hand with the increasingly important role that developing nations are now playing in the global economy. Many developing countries are emerging as important global suppliers of goods, finance, and technology. It is only natural that they enhance their contributions to global development, particularly to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, by sharing resources and ideas across the South.”
One example of a successful South-South partnership, which Dervis cited, is Brazil’s assistance to other developing countries on the subject of HIV/AIDS control. UNDP set up a programme through which Brazil was able to share knowledge gained from its experience in combating HIV/AIDS with Botswana. Brazil’s assistance now extends to 11 other developing countries, including East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Nicaragua and Cape Verde.
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UK votes no to referendum on Lisbon TreatyThe UK Parliament has rejected a call for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The vote represents a victory for Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has argued against a popular poll on the issue, despite his party’s election manifesto pledge committing to ask citizens for their approval before signing up to the EU constitution.
On Wednesday 5 March, the House of Commons voted against the proposal for a public vote by 311 votes to 248, with a margin of 63, the BBC reported. The question now passes to the House of Lords, but the treaty is expected to become law this summer.
Both the UK's ruling Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats claim that the Lisbon Treaty does not have the same constitutional implications for Britain which the EU Constitution did, and therefore does not require a referendum. The Conservatives insist that the document is the EU Constitution under another name, and should be submitted to the promised referendum.
In a public hearing on Tuesday 4 March, UK Socialist MEP Richard Corbett told the European Parliament that the controversial treaty could help bridge the ‘democratic deficit’ between the EU and its citizens. He was speaking at a conference, organised by Parliament, on the possible impact which the reform treaty might have on the upcoming European elections.
He further claimed that one of the most visible changes would be the creation of a new EU “president”, who will be a full-time Brussels official, serving a two-and-half-year term. Of several potential candidates for this post who have been discussed in the press, the most high-profile is former British PM Tony Blair, who has gained the endorsement of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. However, there is much opposition to Blair as a potential EU President, due largely to his role in the Iraq war and the British government’s ambivalence towards the European institutions.
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MEP takes action on human rights case in Eritrea
Aster Fissehatsion is a former director in the Eritrean Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. She has been imprisoned incommunicado, without charge or trial, since September 2001, and her place of detention remains unknown. The Eritrean authorities refuse to divulge any information about Ms. Fissehatsion or answer questions from human rights groups or the international community.
British MEP Glenys Kinnock, who wrote a book called Eritrea: Images of War and Peace, has called on the international community to exert greater pressure on the Eritrean authorities to reveal the whereabouts of Aster Fissehatsion and the other prisoners and also to demand that they be granted access to their families and medical care.
Ms. Fissehatsion was arrested along with ten other senior members of Eritrea’s only political party, the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), after they jointly published an open letter to other party members, calling on them to adhere to the democratic and judicial standards enshrined in the constitution. The President has accused the detainees of being “traitors” and “spies”.
The Eritrean government continues to be extremely repressive. NGOs are not allowed access to the country, all private press was shut down in 2001, and the last remaining resident foreign correspondent in the country was expelled in 2004.
“This situation must not be allowed to continue”, said Mrs Kinnock, who thinks that “speaking out on the most important issues is what politics is about”.
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Environment ministers from the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean meet for the first time in Brussels
On March 4 the first meeting between EU and Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) environment ministers was held in Brussels. More than two dozen ministers from the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean met to discuss the issues of climate change adaptation, renewable energy, biodiversity loss and deforestation. These issues are of particular importance for the economic well-being of EU and Latin American and Caribbean countries. The discussion will provide the basis for the EU - LAC Heads of State and Government Summit in Lima this May.
Slovenian Environment Minister Janez Podobnik said: "Tackling climate change is the main environmental and development challenge of the mankind. It was for this reason that countries of the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean decided to launch a strategic political dialogue on the environment at the 4th EU - LAC Summit in Vienna 2006".
This meeting is seen as the first step in a process designed to give more prominence to environmental issues within EU - LAC cooperation. Before now, the relationship between EU Member States and Latin American and Caribbean countries was largely focused on sub-regions such as the Caribbean, the Andean Community, and Mercosur, or with specific countries.
For 2007 - 2010 the EU is expected to provide €100 million for projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, targeting the areas of forest management, governance and climate change adaptation. The European Investment Bank will also make available approximately €2.8 billion in loans for projects focusing on environmental sustainability, climate change mitigation, greenhouse gas reduction, renewable energy and energy efficiency, and carbon capture and storage.
The EU is expected to earmark a further €24 million for disaster preparedness in the Caribbean region as part of its strategy for disaster risk reduction and preparedness in developing countries, set to be adopted this October.
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The Executive Director for WFP addresses European Parliament on soaring food prices and their implication for hunger
In the context of the sharp increase of world food prices Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the Word Food Programme (WFP), addressed the Committee on Development in the European Parliament on Thursday 6 March with the purpose of highlighting the issue of food security but also in order to gain more financial support for the WFP. The Commission has just launched its budget allocation for this year’s food aid programmes, which amount to 160 million Euros. A representative of the Commission’s European Aid department, ECHO, underlined that this allocation does not yet consider the new needs deriving from the severe situation caused by the enduring increase of the world food prices.
Considering the increase of 37%, compared to last year’s prices, the WFP is in urgent need of additional money. Sheeran estimated the needed resources to be around 500 million dollars. She also underlined that the retrenchment of food production, an adjustment effect to the high world marked demand for bio fuels and animal feed, will surely worsen in the coming years. The rising prices are a serious threat to the food security of net-consumers in low income countries. Afghanistan announced that around 2.5 million persons are in need of food aid. In other countries, such as Mexico, Morocco and Indonesia, violent protests have evolved. Sheeran therefore emphasized the need for comprehensive country analyses in order to locate the most vulnerable.
In the discussion following Sheeran’s presentation, Dutch MEP Thijs Berman aired suggestions on establishing political regulation mechanisms, which would guarantee sufficient domestic food supply in food deficit countries. Further, Berman also emphasised that the price speculations of the retail sector require more political attention. Sheeran concluded by underlining her strong commitment to bring the debate on food security to the highest political level.
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• Meeting minutes by EEPA
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