Development & Aid, Europe, Headlines

DEVELOPMENT: New Government May Bring Few Changes

Peter Deselaers

BERLIN, Jun 21 2005 (IPS) - Development policies are likely to remain unchanged after Germans vote in a new government in September, observers say.

”Few things will change, just the rhetoric will be different,” Prof. Franz Nuscheler at the Institute for Development and Peace at Duisburg- Essen University told IPS. Development and foreign policy are integrated into international treaties, he said.

”The essential question is whether or not the CDU (Christian Democratic Union, the conservative opposition party) is willing to give more money for development, even though they face budgetary constraints,” said Nuscheler.

Christian Ruck of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU’s sister party in the southern German state Bavaria, told IPS that a CDU-led government would fulfil the European Union’s commitment to spend at least 0.51 percent of gross national income (GNI) on aid by 2010 and at least 0.7 percent by 2015.

”We have a concept on how to seriously finance 0.33 per cent in 2006,” he said. Ruck is the CDU/CSU parliamentary party’s development policy spokesman, and is considered a possible future head of the economic cooperation and development ministry (BMZ).

The BMZ is currently headed by Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. As a powerful member of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s Social Democratic Party she prevented diversion of development money to support the state budget, says Reinhard Hermle, chairman of VENRO, an association of German development NGOs.

The CDU recently nominated its chief Angela Merkel as candidate for the post of chancellor. Her chances of becoming the first female top executive of one of Europe’s biggest countries look good. Polls show the CDU/CSU placed between 44 and 49 percent. A likely outcome is a coalition of the CDU/CSU with the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) as the minor partner.

Merkel comes from the former communist east of Germany.

She has told German non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that she would keep an independent development ministry, while the FDP calls for integration of the development ministry with the foreign ministry. The foreign ministry is expected to be headed by FDP leader in parliament Wolfgang Gerhardt.

”It is crucial to have one part of the government that does not look at the world from the perspective of national interests, but takes notice of the weakest in this world,” Hermle told IPS.

Merkel has said she would stick to the 0.7 percent target by 2015, but only on condition that Germany’s economy and government budget were restored.

Ruck criticised European development policies. ”We have 25 development policies plus the EU policy. There is far too little consultation, billions of euros are spent uselessly,” he said. He wants the European Union (EU) development policy to deal exclusively with extremely poor countries.

Some UN organisations may face a cut in German contributions after the elections in September, Ruck said. ”We want a critical examination of our engagement in the 34 UN organisations that deal with development policies, and a concentration on those where we have an influence and which do work efficiently.”

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) would have to define afresh what it does ”because what UNEP does, is done by others too, but sometimes more professionally,” he said.

While the EU would take care of the important health sector, German development projects should focus on state building and democracy, education, private business, infrastructure, environment, and rural development, Ruck said.

Both Nuscheler and Hermle made a strong case for increasing funds for basic health and education services. In 2003 the official development assistance for basic health services was 1.1 per cent, and for basic education 1.5 percent. ”But education is the key,” said Nuscheler.

The international trade regime should also be changed, said Ruck. ”We have to reduce our export subsidies, but on the other hand we have to make sure that this liberalisation will benefit the targeted group. We should not support agro-industry in Brazil and Thailand, while small- scale farmers do not benefit at all.”

But development policy is not expected to play a role in the election campaign. ”The ones to benefit from this difficult policy field are not German voters,” said Hermle.

The campaign will focus on domestic issues, because the government has not delivered on its promise to reduce unemployment. CDU and FDP both call for more liberalisation, a cut in social welfare, and tax reduction.