This week, European leaders agreed the EU budget for next year after some intense negotiations. This includes how much money will be spent on life-saving aid for the world’s poorest people.
Some European countries originally wanted to cut aid funding. So we launched our Protect Aid. Save Lives campaign to put pressure on European leaders – and it worked!
The final deal secures more money for helping refugees, more for humanitarian aid, and more for development programmes. We’re talking a whopping €9.17 billion for 2016, over 5% more than this year.
This is amazing news! It’s the first time ever that the EU aid budget is going to be so high. This means more lives saved, more kids going to school, more roads built, and more people able to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.
We could not have achieved such a great result without ONE members’ support. THANK YOU!
Kristalina Georgieva (centre), Vice-President of the EC in charge of Budget and Human Resources with ONE campaignersClaire Fourçans and Valentina Barbagallo. Photo: ONE
Our petition was signed by more than 32,700 members in Europe. We handed it in to Budget Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva who stressed the importance of our campaign and thanked our members for their commitment.
Members of the European Parliament were also on board thanks to meetings with ONE Youth Ambassadors and receiving our special scratch cards reminding them that saving lives shouldn’t be a lottery.The toughest battle was with individual EU countries, so we asked ONE members to email their Finance Ministers directly. An incredible 900 of you did. And Youth Ambassadors also tweeted them with photos travelling around the 28 landmarks of Mini Europe and a clear message to protect aid.
Youth Ambassadors visit Mini Europe in Brussels and sent tweets to European leaders of all 28 members of the EU. Photo: ONE
Each and every one of you who took action made a difference. So, if you were not already convinced: yes, your voice counts. Keep making it heard!