 In an interview last week, UK Labour MEP Glenys Kinnock claimed not to be pessimistic about prospect of the MDGs being achieved, but criticised Member States for not keeping their promises on aid. Kinnock, who is a member of Parliament's Committee on Development, said: "No, I don't believe the MDGs are a lost cause. What we need to see now is that the Member States of the European Union fulfil the promises they made at Gleneagles. What we have seen last year, of course, is that they inflated their aid levels by including debt relief to Iraq and Nigeria. This year they don't have the opportunity to do that so you've seen that there are some countries that are a major concern: Portugal, especially since they hosted the EU-Africa summit (in December); France had made a very strong commitment when (President Jacques) Chirac was there." "I think we need to name and shame those countries who are not fulfilling what was a strong commitment because we are talking about life and death here," she added. She also acknowledged that the world food crisis complicates the situation "massively", and added: "When you consider how many acres of land in the U.S. and across Europe will be going to producing crops for biofuels, it is just simply unacceptable. It is grotesque." On the EU's Economic Partnership Agreements with ACP countries, the MEP stated that she was "not against EPAs" but that "the pace of the negotiations has been extremely fast and pressured" and "we have no choice but to negotiate a new way of working". Source: |
