Article ONE: How did we do?

Nov 7th, 2009 5:36 PM EST
By Carola Bieniek

Following the German elections in September, the new government in Berlin is now formed of 3 parties – the CDU, the CSU and the FDP. In order for them to be able to work productively during their 4 year term they have agreed on a coalition treaty, which points the way for the for the future political direction of the German government.

As the goal of our ‘Article ONE’ campaign was to influence the content of the coalition treaty, we’ve picked apart the Article ONE and the treaty to see how we did.

Article ONE: “The German government has the duty to act decisively against extreme poverty….”

The coalition treaty speaks of values and interests in development politics. There is also an important reference, containing the commitment to fight extreme poverty, to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Article ONE: “…The successes of the past years show that there is a way out of poverty….”

There is no reference to development successes of recent years in the coalition treaty.

Article ONE: “…Germany keeps its promise to Africa and will allocate 0,51% in 2010 and 0,7% of its gross national income no later than 2015 for development assistance….”

The international commitments to finance development are enforced in the treaty. However, whilst the 0.7% goal is named, concrete timing is not. However by referring to “international commitments” the treaty implies that this goal – through an intermediate goal of 0.51% ODA/GNI by 2010 – shall be reached by 2015. The CDU/CSU’s “Government Program 2009 to 2013” contains similar wording. ONE asked the Secretary Generals of the CDU and CSU to clarify this wording and they confirmed that the above interpretation is accurate. ONE therefore assumes the meaning is the same in the coalition treaty. There is, however, a reservation clause on the budget of which the exact relevance and meaning remain unclear to us.

The coalition treaty ensures a “design of development assistance tailored to the need at hand in the areas of biodiversity as well as the fight against climate change and hunger”. This will make substantial Overseas Development Aid (ODA) increases necessary.

Article ONE: “…Ownership as well as transparent and coordinated aid is key to highly effective development assistance….”

Strengthening the individual responsibility of the developing countries is named as a central element and the importance of coordination on a national as well as an international level is picked up broadly in the treaty. There is a strong emphasis on streamlining and co-ordinating donors’ assistance (as called for in the Paris Declaration on the effectiveness of development aid) but there is no explicit reference to the importance of transparency. The increase in efficiency and effectiveness is mentioned several times.

Article ONE: “…The efforts need to be focused on the MDGs….”

The MDGs are seen as central goal of development politics.

Article ONE: “…Thus the German government extends its engagement in the sectors health, agriculture, education and infrastructure….”

The key sectors named in the Article ONE are also named by the next government as key in development politics.

Article ONE: “…In addition, Germany supports a trade initiative for Africa…”

A trade initiative for Africa is not explicitly supported. However, several key elements to fairer trade with Africa are named.

Article ONE: “… and a fair debt process for countries that are threatened by unsustainable debt.”

The coalition treaty contains this Article ONE demand.

So as you can see: overall we didn’t do badly. Thanks to the support of thousands of ONE members we got several of our asks into the directive for the new German government. Now the real work begins: to see those directives turned into action!

TAGS: Germany, ONE