Vol. 562 No. 5
206 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the EU Commission's decision to change the existing regulation on development aid to one with less specific policy objectives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6526/03]
I take it that this question refers to the concerns expressed recently by a number of non-governmental organisations over the new EC regulation on co-operation with Asian and Latin American countries which is currently before the Council and the European Parliament.
The proposed regulation is aimed at providing a new legal framework for Community co-operation with the countries of Asia and Latin America. The new regulation will replace Regulation (EEC) No. 443/92, which was adopted on 25 February 1992.
In general terms, co-operation and assistance under the proposed regulation will take account of the objectives of development policy, as defined in Article 177 of the Treaty establishing the European Community and further developed in the Joint Statement of the Council and the Commission on 10 November 2000.
At a European Parliament hearing last month a number of NGO representatives were critical of the proposed new legislation because it did not firmly establish the goal of the regulation as that of poverty reduction. They also argued that the Commission was seeking to reduce the regulation to the status of a legal enabling instrument without the policy content required to fulfil the above mentioned treaty objectives.
I regard the current renegotiation of the EC's existing ALA regulation as an important opportunity to improve the effectiveness of the Community's development programmes with the countries of Asia and Latin America. The Commission's draft for a new regulation has a number of positive features, for example, its proposal for the untying of aid, for more streamlined management procedures and, above all, its central objective of poverty reduction and the promotion of sustainable development. In line with the primacy of poverty reduction in Ireland Aid policies we will continue to emphasise the central role which this objective must have in the new regulation.
