Alicia Blázquez from ONE’s Germany office checks in with this great report:

The ONE team in Berlin remind Chancellor Merkel of her aid promises

This week, the members of the German government are coming together to negotiate the budget for 2010. Which ministry is going to get how much? Will Germany keep its Overseas Development Aid (ODA) promises? Whatever happens this week’s negotiations will set the course for 2010.

Germany has repeatedly promised to contribute its share to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases. In 2005 Chancellor Merkel spoke to the German parliament and committed to the international ODA goals – according to which Germany needs to invest 0.51% by 2010 and 0.7 %of the gross national income to development assistance. And in early 2009, in the midst of the financial and economic crisis, Chancellor Merkel reiterated again the importance of increasing Germany’s ODA even in tough financial times.

Now Chancellor Merkel needs to live up to her own words. We remember them, and hope that she does too. But just in case we’ve launched a new campaign to remind the Chancellor of her own commitments. We are asking German ONE supporters to sign a petition to the Chancellor, and supporters have even called the hotline of the German government to make sure the message is being heard.

Today the ONE team in Berlin, wearing masks of the Chancellor and equipped with huge speech bubbles with her own words, went to the Brandenburg Gate, in the very heart Berlin’s government district.

Let’s hope the Chancellor gets the message.