Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-14-Speech-3-285"
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"en.20030514.12.3-285"2
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". – Mr President, I just want to reply to a few points that have been raised.
Mr Wyn said that the proportion of Community aid spent in low-income countries had fallen from 70% in 1990 to 38% now. However, he should remember that in 1990 there was no expansion of assistance to the central and eastern European countries that are about to join the Union and the activities in the Balkans were not part of the picture. The reality is that in absolute figures we have not reduced the effort in favour of the least-developed countries and the really poor developing countries, but have increased the effort in other areas. Therefore, the percentages may be correct but the interpretation is wrong. I hope Mr Wyn will report back to the UK on this because it is something the UK has been slower to realise than some other countries.
I agree very much with Mr Howitt's remarks about the mid-term review being an occasion to raise the issue of this sector's priority. To put it bluntly, we were disappointed with our partners' priorities, on both education and health, in the planning of what we are doing country by country. This is one reason we are trying to find old money, free it up and reallocate it through cross-cutting initiatives, such as the Fast Track Initiative for education. The water initiative is one other such case. This runs somewhat contrary to our planning methodology, but we are pushing this, and tomorrow I will be raising the issue with our ACP partner governments.
Finally, Mrs Junker and others mentioned the essential role of regional languages in these primary education systems. A few months ago in Mali I asked people in a village why they had not started their children at the local primary school a few kilometres away. The answer was that the education in the school was in French, a language they do not speak in the village. Therefore they are excluded from the system. That is quite tough! This is an important point. On the other hand, to be taught a language that reaches beyond the very local sphere is a gateway to the world. There is no easy answer to this question, but it is important to push for a dual solution to it."@en1
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