VN-top 2005: Barroso roept op tot navolging Europa bij verplichtingen ontwikkelingsdoelstellingen (en)
On the eve of the UN World Summit, the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso challenged wealthy nations to match the European Union's drive to help countries fulfil the Millennium Development Goals. "The 2005 UN World Summit is a unique opportunity to show Europe's determination to keep our promises to the developing world and to bring others with us."
On the UN reforms, he said: "The UN is as essential today as it was 60 years ago, but we need to ensure that it is equipped to face up to modern challenges. The new Peacebuilding Commission will help us all achieve sustainable peace in addressing more effectively the needs of countries emerging from conflict - and the EU, with its strong track record in conflict prevention and post conflict reconstruction, aims to be an active participant".
The UN and the EU were both born of the same experience of war and are based on the same conviction that the solutions to global problems lie in multilateral solutions. The challenges of development, peace and security as well as human rights know no borders and we need to take collective action to deal with them effectively.
Development
President Barroso recalled that the European Union (the European Commission and Member States) is the world's biggest aid donor, responsible for 55% of all development aid (35 billion euros in 2004). The EU is also the biggest trading partner for developing countries and the world's biggest provider of trade related assistance.
The EU has taken a leading role by presenting ambitious commitments for financing development: more and better aid, with the firm determination to reach the long-standing target of 0.7% of GNP to official development assistance (ODA) by 2015. The EU has set itself the interim target of 0.56% GNI/ODA by 2010, and President Barroso now challenges others to follow this example. These EU commitments translate into 20 billion euro more ODA per year by 2010 and 45 billion euro more per year by 2015. Half of the increase is earmarked for Africa, the continent most in need of additional support in their efforts to reach the MDG's.
UN Reform
The Commission hopes to see an ambitious outcome at the Summit.
The establishment of a Peacebuilding Commission to cover the whole continuum between peace-making actions in the wake of conflict, and long term stabilisation and development, is an essential reform that will make international action more coherent and effective. The EU's wide experience of peace-building on every continent from Afghanistan to Kosovo, means it has a lot to contribute including as an institutional donor, and that the European Community would participate in the meetings of the new Peacebuilding Commission.
The UN's current Human Rights machinery is not equal to today's challenges. The Commission strongly supports the creation of a Human Rights Council with a clear mandate to alert the Security Council to developing crises. It is essential that this proposal be put into action without delay after the Summit.
Together with the Member States, the Commission has been in the forefront of the drive for the establishment of a UN Environment Organisation to give environmental governance a strong mandate and stable and predictable financing. Addressing climate change and the potential of scarce or degraded resources to provoke conflict has also been in the agenda of the Commission in the run up to the Summit.
Background
The EU is the UN's biggest financial backer. EU member states provide 38% of the UN regular budget and, together with the European Commission, they account for 50% of voluntary contributions to UN funds and programmes.
EU member states play an important role in the success of UN action, and come to this summit with a joint position on the vast majority of the points for discussion.