Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-06-Speech-3-063"
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"en.20050706.3.3-063"2
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"Mr President, a quarter of a century has passed since Willy Brandt presented his report on North-South relations. Since then, the problem of poverty has not only not been resolved, but in many cases it has actually worsened.
In reality, the latest report on poverty in the world demonstrates that there has only been a degree of progress in China, in some countries in South-East Asia and in some specific cases in Latin America.
In Africa the figures are discouraging, and we must therefore welcome this British initiative, which I do not believe to be opportunist — it was announced by Minister Straw and his Prime Minister at least two years ago. After 40 years, dozens of wars and millions of deaths have left the continent of Africa exhausted.
They are no magic formulae in the fight against poverty and only two things are certain: firstly, contrary to what some people think, poverty is not an economic problem, but rather a political one, and resolving it requires, as a priority, political decisions; secondly, in order be successful, we must ensure economic growth — without growth, there is no wealth to be distributed.
In this context, these days we hear millions of voices calling for the application of traditional formulae throughout the world: increasing official development aid, cancellation of debt and fair trade. These are three necessary, but insufficient, measures. The political and social leaders of the countries suffering from poverty must demand much more, particularly in the field of strengthening civil society — strengthening their societies, transparency and good government, thereby increasing investments in health, education and gender policies.
In Africa, there are more than 100 000 armed children, whose faces some of us have seen. If we want to make progress on the objective of reducing poverty by half by 2015, these points I have indicated demonstrate the direction we must take if we are to succeed."@en1
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