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Trading Places: EU Aid Chief Grilled

By Brian Kenety and Greta Hopkins

It was Poul Nielson's turn to take the hot seat. The EU, host to this week's LDC-III conference, had pledged to involve civil society in the deliberations and engage them in debate.

And so, the EU Commissioner for development co-operation and humanitarian aid - who is fond of referring to NGOs as "non-governable organisations" - held forth Thursday afternoon at the Institut des Science Naturelles before a sea of white badges.

Anyone (with a blue, brown or green badge) who caught the special interactive session co-chaired by Nielson on 'International Trade, Commodities and Services/Tourism' in the European Parliament earlier in the day, or sat through a couple hours of the debates, will already be familiar with the thrust of his opening remarks.

But in case you found yourself on the other side of the barricades - as did the NGOs, despite promises that LDC-III would be a different kind of conference, which would allow civil society the opportunity to lobby the official delegations - here goes:

1) The EU's 'Everything But Arms' initiative on granting LDCs immediate duty- and quota-free access to its European markets (except on rice, sugar and bananas) is a model that the rest of the industrialised countries should follow. However, it is not enough. Poor countries face serious supply side constraints and these must be addressed.

2) The international community has failed to meet its target of 0.7 per cent of GDP for ODA and, in order for debt relief to work, the HIPC initiative must be fully-funded. The LDC-III Programme of Action should address this and new funds should be mobilised, also so that poor countries can afford the medicines to combat AIDS.

3) Good policies prescriptions aren't enough either. Good governance is essential. Corruption is bad.

4) A fair, balanced, rules-based, transparent and democratically-run WTO can work in the best interests of the developing countries. Such a system is conducive to growth, investment and development and there is a consensus emerging in the international community that 'fast track' accession for LDCs to the WTO should be pursued.

5) And, of course, that civil society must be involved both in monitoring the LDC-III Programme of Action and crafting the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PSRPs) that country's must complete to benefit from the enhance HIPC initiative. Enshrined in the Cotonou Agreement, which governs trade and aid relations between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries, most of which are LDCs, are provisions that should make sure this happens.

Dissatisfied NGOs

For those of you not sporting a white badge this week, and/or who have not had the opportunity to be lobbied, here is a newsflash: The NGOs aren't quite satisfied.

Paul Nehru Tennassee, director of the Washington office of the World Confederation of Labour, who co-chaired the Civil Society Debate, and, in actual fact, held the floor nearly as long as Nielson, argued that the WTO and international financial institutions was "a great burden" for developing countries, that they did not have the capacity to participate or understand how they work, and how they work against the interests of the poor.

"I'm afraid sometimes that when the developed countries talk about capacity building, it is to train people in the developing countries to be able to participate more efficiently in existing systems that have been devised by the developed world, to serve the interests of the developed world," he said.

"So you [Nielson] are almost training these people to make your WTO work more efficiently for you.

" One audience member took umbrage over Nielson's calls for good governance, saying that the North needed to get its own house in order, after all, it is in the developed countries' secretive bank accounts the graft from the Nigerian oil deals ended up and where Zaire's (DRC) dictator Mbutu stashed his millions.

An activist from Cambodia objected to the fact that governments still held so much sway over NGOs, as the EU refused to provide direct funding to civil society actors (Nielson said this was largely true, apart from its funding of those working in humanitarian crises).

Another participant asked for vigilance on the EU's part to ensure that HIPC and other development funds were spent where they were most needed, in the social sector, and that civil society had a say in drafting the PRSPs.

Yet another questioner asked why the EU didn't directly empower people in LDCs by giving away five to ten million personal computers.

There was no time for further questions, in part because an announcement in French, Dutch, German and English that the museum was closing (this is multilingual Belgium, after all), but also because Nielson was 15 minutes late in arriving.

In short, he said that if civil society wasn't getting a voice, "it is time to make some noise", that the issue of diverted funds from Africa to Europe had been addressed at the Europe-Africa Summit last year, and the OECD was on the case with EU support, and that a positive and broad consensus on development issues, North and South, governmental and intergovernmental, had developed.

Questioning authority

Before the session with Nielson had drawn to a close, Mario Gay wandered out of the room, obviously not in a rush to get away to another NGO brainstorming session.

"We have lots of problems with Nielson - he has a very modern vision of development," he said.

Gay is the President of Cocis - the organisation representing Italian NGOs to the European Union.

He knows the EU institutions and how they work well, and is following the reform currently being implemented by the Commissioner with some concern.

"Everyone is seeing the amount of bureaucracy increase.

Before Nielson, humanitarian aid operations were much more flexible.

" Gay has also witnessed the recent show-down between the European Commission and the organisation representing European NGOs in Brussels - the CLONG.

Nielson began an audit process of the NGO umbrella group several years ago, suspicious that their accounting was not up to scratch.

No fraud was uncovered, but as the NGOs failed to come up with all the right papers, they are now reimbursing a large sum of EU funds to the Commission.

"The CLONG affair has been very demoralising for us.

The entire EU dimension of European NGOs was done by the CLONG.

This was the worst time for the NGOs to suffer such a blow - just when the EU development programme is undergoing reform," said the Italian activist.

Gay thinks Nielson has a very "executive" view of NGOs - he just wants to use them to implement Brussels policies.

"This is a shame because in the past NGOs have achieved very interesting results with pilot projects and experiments," he said.

Approachability

Patrick Wasswa from Uganda thinks that the issues that really concern development were ignored during the round table.

"They talked most of the time about trade, but this is a secondary issue," he said.

Wasswa works for the Uganda Youth Development Link, and for him the real problems to be tackled are unemployment, drug abuse and health problems such as AIDS.

"They look at things from an EU perspective in their air-conditioned hotels.

The approachable EU I see here is not the same EU I see back in Uganda.

The EU people in Uganda are in the same modern building as the Belgian embassy, and it is very difficult to get to see them.

Bureaucracy is a big problem for us NGOs.

" Wasswa knows it will be the same with his Ministers.

Here he can talk to the decision-makers informally, but back at home he will not be allowed to get anywhere near them.

Robert Glasgow from the group Peace Child clearly had a bee in his bonnet about the Everything But Arms initiative, and was most upset that he did not get to ask a question.

The EBA is just a big public relations effort, he said.

The EU knows perfectly well that the LDCs cannot take advantage of the offer because of the high safety and environmental standards that are in place.

"The EU is giving out a somewhat hypocritical message," he said.

Hayata Ruki from Tanzania had one clear message for the Commissioner: "It's great to hear the EU wants to co-operate with civil society, but now we have to put it into practice."