Brussels – The Foreign Affairs Council of Development Ministers adopted today conclusions on the 2019 EU development aid targets. The EU and its member states maintain their position as the largest aid provider, however, EU ODA dropped 2% compared to 2017.

Friederike Röder, ONE’s EU and France director, reacts:

“The Council is urging the EU and its member states to take these findings as a wakeup call and step up efforts towards achieving the 0.7% development target to put the EU in track to end extreme poverty by 2030.

The EU has the perfect tool to act now by ensuring its next long term budget is ambitious enough to support those that need it the most. As the global leader in development aid, the EU should show the way to a world free of extreme poverty.”

Ministers discussed how to step up the EU’s long term engagement in the Sahel region, where countries face natural disasters, food insecurity, extreme poverty (80% live on less than €2 per day) and a lack of educational opportunities (with 70% illiteracy).

Friederike Röder, ONE’s EU and France director, added:

“With around 80% of people under 35 years-old, the Sahel is the driver of the continent’s youth boom while being one of the poorest and most fragile regions of the world.

If the EU wants to engage in the long-term in regions like the Sahel, it needs to fight the root causes of extreme poverty. There need to be governance reforms to make sure that international support is working to support the poorest.”