European donors need to better coordinate their aid policies, according to European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs, noting that European Union member states have so far failed to follow through on their commitments to work together and focus on what each does best.
“This is unacceptable. How can we expect a partner country in, say, Africa to take us seriously when fifteen or more European donors are working there with limited resources and too much time spent on coordination?” Piebalgs told members of the German Bundestag’s Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development on Feb. 11, as quoted by an EU press release. “This state of affairs has to change.”
The commissioner said he will, in the coming months, introduce proposals to improve the way the EU programs its assistance.
Piebalgs said the EU is not looking at having “some kind of European control.”
“Each donor should set his own priorities – however, with good knowledge as to what others are doing. To pull more European weight, we need to synchronize our timing better, with one another and the partner country alike. Then we can have a truly coordinated European impact,” he explained.
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