Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-14-Speech-3-407"
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"en.20070214.25.3-407"2
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"Mr President, I am in favour of budget support, but I want to draw attention to two significant potential weaknesses and ask the Commission what steps are being taken to address them.
The first weakness is that aid given through budget support will not reach the remotest and poorest areas if the national infrastructure in those areas is weak. Last October I visited West Pokot, a remote and arid area of north-west Kenya, and heard from local people about the problems they experienced persuading personnel to come and work there. Budget support for health and education in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals may simply not penetrate into remote areas.
The Commission’s evaluation of the ninth EDF in Zambia makes exactly the same point: ‘Budget support does not give the tools to target specific geographical areas. In the absence of goals and corresponding indicators related to the spread of impact over the country, budget support is not relevant for targeting remote and poorer areas’.
The second weakness of budget support that I would highlight is that it is a blunt tool. It is very difficult to use it to deliver a balanced result between potentially conflicting development goals. For example, in the Cambodia country strategy paper for the tenth EDF, the main focal sector is support to the National Strategic Development Plan, which covers actions such as reviving the agricultural sector by promoting large-scale irrigation. But the country environmental profile warns this may lead to overuse of land and pollution from increased use of pesticides and fertilisers. I would like to ask the Commission what conditions on sustainability are laid down when budget support is offered, and how does the Commission check that these are being adhered to?"@en1
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