Brussels, April 20^th – Today, the European Parliament Development Committee has voted on its “Financing for Development” report in preparation of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD), taking place in Addis Ababa on 13-16 July.

Valentina Barbagallo, ONE’s Policy and Advocacy Officer, said:

“Today, the European Parliament’s development committee made it beyond clear that it expects the EU to step up this year – a year in which the new global anti-poverty goals will be decided as well as how to finance them. Members of the European Parliament called on the EU to recommit to longstanding aid promises, but also to focus on the hardest to reach by directing at least half of aid to the very poorest countries. Only that way can we truly finish the job of ending extreme poverty. At ONE we urge Member States to rise to this call and make this bold new commitment.”

“We applaud last week’s commitments by Belgium and Ireland to allocate at least 50% of their aid budgets to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Now it is up to the rest of the Member States to follow their example and, at the Foreign Affairs Council in May, to agree to target aid to those who need it the most.”

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Notes to editors

• Contact, information &interviews: Tess Uytterhoeven| Media Manager | [email protected] | m: +32 (0)471 89 64 22
• ABOUT ONE: ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organization of over 6 million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Not politically partisan, we raise public awareness and press political leaders to combat AIDS and preventable diseases, increase investments in agriculture and nutrition, and demand greater transparency in poverty-fighting programmes. To learn more, go to www.one.org.