The European Parliament (EP) has voted to adopt a report which makes a number of criticisms and recommendations concerning the 10th , covering the period 2008-2103, which has a budget of €22,682 million.

The report urges that the EDF be incorporated into the EU budget "in order to increase the consistency, transparency and effectiveness of development cooperation and guarantee democratic scrutiny".

The EP also contends that the commitment under the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) to devote 20% of funds to health and basic education by 2009 should also apply to the EDF.

MEPs criticised the Council’s recent decision to finance the African Peace Facility from the EDF, since this directs funds away from development in order to use them for foreign policy purposes.

The report also criticises the omission of the gender dimension as a specific area of action in the 10th EDF, and condemns attempts to make signing an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU a condition for a country to receive integrated regional programme funds.

Sources:

• European Parliament