Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-06-Speech-3-069"
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"en.20020206.4.3-069"2
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"Mr President, with the UN Conference in Monterrey around the corner, the world is facing a fundamental choice. Despite all the fine speeches, international conferences and development programmes, the gap between rich and poor has only widened over the past decades. 1.2 billion people, that is one fifth of the world population, live on less than one dollar a day. The three richest people together own more than the total income of the world’s 48 poorest countries, and 130 million children never attend school. These are the bare facts.
We all have a clear lesson to learn from the disastrous attacks of 11 September. In the Global Village, we have to be prepared to tackle these problems together, but our response falls extremely far short of the mark. I want to warn against a new international doctrine according to which the western world, having turned its back on these one billion people fighting for their daily existence, withdraws behind barriers made up of weapon shields and expensive technological defence materiel.
The amount of USD 379 billion which, if it were up to President Bush, is being earmarked for the Pentagon next year is more than seven times the total amount of development aid spent last year worldwide. This situation is all the more poignant when one realises that, despite the worldwide agreement to spend 0.7% of GNP on development aid, the figure has even dropped to an all time low of 0.24%. This is unacceptable because it is precisely a doubling of the worldwide development aid figures that is required in order to meet our international pledge, namely that, by 2015, all children in the world will be able to attend school and receive medical care.
The pledges for 2015 are clear. The Member States must now very quickly meet this 0.7% target in a practical way. We must not allow the breakthrough at Doha to be watered down. European agricultural policy must change to benefit the Third World. Without any serious commitments by the Western countries, the conference in Monterrey will end up in a stalemate. This is why Europe, as the world’s largest donor of development cooperation and as the largest international trading power, must be prepared to throw its weight into the balance, building on the successes achieved at Doha, with a view to reaching authentic binding agreements in Monterrey about aid, education, health care and far-reaching debt relief."@en1
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