EU: The European Commission has unveiled a strategy to improve the co-ordinatation of development aid and prevent member states from wasting tens of millions of euro through duplication of aid.
Development commissioner Louis Michel said all 27 EU states needed to pool their aid programmes and divide labour to improve the delivery of aid.
"Aid must help; it must not become a burden. We must cut red tape and divide tasks better inside the EU," said Mr Michel, who highlighted the duplication of aid efforts in several states, including Kenya, where 20 EU donors provide medical assistance through 13 agencies. Some African ministers hosted more than 200 aid delegations a year, he added.
Mr Michel also said member states focused on success stories, such as Vietnam, rather than paying attention to more fragile countries such as the Central African Republic. All donors should dedicate part of their aid budget to "underfunded" or neglected states that have become "aid orphans", he said.
Mr Michel asked member states to sign up to a voluntary code of conduct based on 10 principles for a better division of labour among donors.
Under this system, EU states would limit their involvement in a partner country to the two sectors in which they had the best comparative advantage. They would also be invited to delegate responsibility to other EU states.
"Huge amounts of money are being wasted," said Mr Michel, who acknowledged that former colonial powers were reluctant to delegate responsibility.
"There are a number of member states that for historical reasons . . . have been focusing their aid on countries they feel closer to," he said.
The proposal is likely to face tough opposition from member states with a tradition of disbursing development aid and assistance. The Republic, for example, concentrates its development aid to eight states and would see its role diluted if it were forced to delegate responsibilities to larger donor countries.
Fianna Fáil MEP Liam Aylward said the plan was ill-conceived and too simplistic. "Instead of giving a lot of effective aid to a few countries, we would give smaller amounts of aid to far more countries," he said.