By IPS Correspondents
BRUSSELS, Sep 23 2005 (IPS)

European Union development and humanitarian affairs chief Louis Michel says he had hoped for a “more ambitious” outcome to the United Nations world summit in New York last week.

But leaders of more than 170 nations failed to follow the example set by the European Union (EU), Michel said at a conference on ‘Are the developed countries hitting the Millennium Development Goals’ hosted Thursday by the Brussels-based think-tank Friends of Europe.

Michel said there had been a lack of action in spite of “plenty of opportunities for world leaders to take pride in emphasising the importance of action” this year at the G8 (the eight industrialised nations, the United States, Canada, Britain, German, France, Italy, Japan and Russia) meeting in July, and now the UN summit.

“Unfortunately, lofty speeches are not always followed up with the political will required when negotiations get tough and budgets become tight,” he said. “Most heads of state and government have been reluctant to put their money where their mouths are.”

Before leaving for the summit José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, the EU executive, had said the summit would be “a unique opportunity to show Europe’s determination to keep our promises to the developing world and to bring others with us.”

Barroso said he was particularly determined to persuade his peers to “follow the EU’s lead – to match our Everything But Arms initiative, match our readiness to fix a date to abolish agricultural subsidies, and match our commitment to doubling aid.” Under the Everything But Arms initiative all imports to the European Union from the least developed countries are duty free, except for armaments.

The EU pledged earlier this year to meet the target of setting aside 0.7 percent of gross national income (GNI) for official development aid by 2015.

The original objective of the UN summit was to agree a new comprehensive framework to eradicate poverty and to meet other targets under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by world leaders in 2000 to cut poverty and disease and to promote health and education.

The 35-page final document agreed by world leaders at the end of the three-day conference last Friday (Sep. 16) focussed instead on security, terrorism and UN reform.

But Michel acknowledged that the document reaffirms the global commitment to the MDGs, and praised the outcome paper’s “balance between the respective commitments of developing and developed countries”, its “strong focus on good governance” and the weight given to “achieving and maintaining macro-economic stability and an effective management of public finances.”

Michel believes the major challenge now will be to ensure that additional funds for aid will result in “real progress” towards the MDGs at country level. He said the EU’s new development policy statement (DPS) announced by the EU executive in July would provide a “solid basis” for this.

Under those proposals the EU highlights the importance of partnership with developing countries and the promotion of good governance, human rights and democracy. It also stresses the role of civil society.

“These EU commitments show there is a real, joint and visible effort from EU member states to accelerate progress towards the MDGs. We will remain just as committed to the follow-up of the world summit and make sure that commitments are implemented,” he said.

Civil society groups are demanding more commitment to developmental work.

“This has been a tale of two summits,” the international aid agency Oxfam said in a statement shortly after the summit. “The historic agreement to stop future genocides stands in stark contrast with the lack of progress on ending poverty. Leaders must urgently get back on track to deliver debt cancellation and fair trade.”

Guy Ryder, secretary-general of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) which represents some 145 million workers in more than 150 countries, urged world leaders to redouble their efforts to reclaim lost ground.

“We should ensure that promises are kept, and that the unfinished agenda is completed,” he said in a statement. “As our attention now turns to the WTO Hong Kong ministerial, world leaders must ensure that the meeting delivers on a fair and just trade system which supports the achievement of the MDGs, and the broader development agenda.”

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