Jim Higgins
Ceist:14 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the consideration, if any, given by the EU General Affairs Council to debt relief for highly indebted poor countries. [25493/99]
Written Answers. - Debt Relief.
In September 1999, at the annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF, the EU Presidency said that the EU was prepared to use funds in the framework of the European Development Fund to make a substantial contribution towards relieving the debt burden on African, Caribbean and Pacific states. The presidency indicated that this initiative would include an EU contribution for debt cancellation of the order of one billion euros.
In November 1999 the commission presented a proposal on the EU contribution to debt relief to the General Affairs Council. The principal elements in the proposal are a contribution of 320 million euros to help write off debt service obligations to the community of the ACP countries which qualify under the highly indebted poor countries initiative; a contribution of 626 million euros to the highly indebted poor countries trust fund managed by the World Bank. This will be earmarked for ACP countries.
These contributions will come from unallocated resources in the European development fund. The African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, for whose benefit the EDF was established, have agreed to the use of the unallocated funds for debt relief.
In addition to the above contributions, the EU will also separately allocate 54 million euros to the heavily indebted poor countries trust fund which will be unearmarked and can be used for debt relief for non ACP countries.
At the request of the ACP countries, the commission has also proposed using 250 million euros to assist structural adjustment in ACP countries who wish to qualify for debt relief. Taken together, all of these contributions amount to 1.25 billion euros – 1 billion in direct debt relief and 250 million euros in structural adjustment assistance.
The commission proposal is at present under discussion in the Council framework. It is possible that the package will be agreed at the General Affairs Council on 6 December. It should then be presented to the next ACP-EU ministerial meeting on 7-8 December for adoption.
Ireland has strongly supported a generous EU contribution to debt relief. We have long argued that the financial resources available under the heavily indebted poor countries initiative were not sufficient to cut debt levels significantly. This proposed EU contribution gives the EU a leading role in the funding of debt relief which should encourage other major donors to assume their fair share of the burden of financing debt relief.