¿Hacia dónde van las relaciones entre América Latina y la Unión Europea? Cohesión social y Acuerdos de AsociaciÃ
By ALOP
En el presente documento la Asociación Latinoamericana de Organizaciones de Promoción al Desarrollo (ALOP) se propone dar a conocer una serie de planteos institucionales sobre dos aspectos centrales de las relaciones birregionales entre América Latina y la Unión Europea: la cohesión social y los Acuerdos de Asociación (AdA) -vigentes y/o en negociación- entre distintos paÃses y bloques regionales de América Latina. Estos temas constituyen una parte muy importante, aunque no completa, de la agenda actual de las relaciones entre ambas regiones
Se incluyen en la presente publicación, seis textos que constituyen sólo una parte de todos los análisis, reflexiones, propuestas, etc. que ALOP ha desarrollado en los últimos años sobre los temas de la cohesión social y de los AdA. Se trata tanto de iniciativas propias de la Asociación, como de acciones desarrolladas a través de varias alianzas estratégicas con otras organizaciones amigas, a nivel latinoamericano como ante autoridades europeas (Parlamento, Consejo y Comisión Europeos).
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¿El paraÃso en la otra esquina? Reflexiones sobre eficiencia de la ayuda en los paÃses de ingreso medio y ...
... la cooperación entre la Unión Europea y América Latina en el nuevo milenio
Autor: Carlos Santiso
La cooperación para el desarrollo en América Latina se enmarca en el contexto de los contrastes del desarrollo en la región, en particular la perseverancia de la pobreza y persistencia de la desigualdad. Aunque la gran mayorÃa de los paÃses latinoamericanos tiene grados intermedios de desarrollo, los Ãndices de pobreza y exclusión siguen altos, tanto en términos relativos como absolutos.
Si para mejorar la eficiencia de la ayuda se opta por concentrarla en aquellos paÃses con mayores Ãndices de pobreza promedio, en particular en Ãfrica subsahariana, entonces, dónde quedan aquellos paÃses con grados de desarrollo intermedio pero con altos Ãndices de inequidad y gran número de pobres?
Este breve artÃculo tiene un doble propósito. Primero, trata de esbozar una serie de planteamientos sobre lo que significa —para América Latina— ser una región de ingreso y renta intermedios. Segundo, ofrece unas pautas para reflexionar sobre la justificación y eficiencia de la cooperación europea con la región. Empero, es necesario subrayar que la preocupación mayor no reside tanto en la cantidad de recursos suministrados por la cooperación, sino más bien en su calidad, es decir, la eficiencia de la ayuda en paÃses de ingreso medio.
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Donor concern over IMF cap on aid increases
In this article, Joseph Hanlon studies the contradiction of aid in Mozambique: as a result of public pressure several European governments are willing to increase aid to Mozambique, but the IMF maintains the money must go to private sector projects, against the wishes of the European donors.
Read the full article
The Air Ticket Levy gets praise from Stamp Out Poverty
A message from Stamp Out Poverty:
The Air Ticket Levy - the first tax specifically dedicated to fighting global poverty - has just been agreed at a meeting of Ministers in Paris and is set to start producing revenue in July. France alone will generate in the region of 200 million euro. The French Government insist that the revenue will be additional to current ODA commitments. 12 countries in total (listed below) have agreed 'to implement the international air-ticket solidarity contribution'. For Stamp Out Poverty the Air Ticket Levy (ATL) may only be producing modest funds but it is a stepping stone, setting an important precedent in respect of additional development financing initiatives.
The Guardian published a piece on Monday about this historic conference and the progress that has been made in an article showing great support for our flagship campaign for a stamp duty on currency transactions. To read the article, click here.
Below please find a short report of the 'Paris Conference on Innovative Financing for Development'.
On 28 February/ 1 March 2006, ninety-three states met in Paris for the ministerial conference on Innovative Financing for Development rallying support from the international community to go further to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
President Jacques Chirac opened the conference stating that "despite the continuous increase in global wealth, a third of humankind still lives on less than a euro a day," and that "...globalisation, far from bridging the (poverty) gap, is widening it even further". He declared the intention to implement an airline-ticket solidarity levy in France to raise more than 200 million euros annually starting 1 July 2006. France is proposing "to ear-mark the proceeds...for an International Drug Purchase Facility to combat such pandemics as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, which are ravaging developing countries".
The 12 countries that have agreed to implement the international airline-ticket levy are: Brazil, Chile, Congo, Cyprus, Ivory Coast, France, Jordan, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nicaragua and Norway.
The UK is conspicuous by its absence from this group. Although the UK already has an Air Passenger Duty it seems that the French and the UK Governments have not yet found a way to financially back each other’s proposals. I attach the communiqué between the two Governments released at the Ministerial. Reference to France supporting IFFIm (the pilot financing facility for immunisation) is not from ATL funds but from traditional ODA, and is an old pledge. The UK states its support for France’s International Drug Purchase Facility but doesn’t state when and by how much it will give a financial contribution.
On the second day of the conference, 4 very well-attended seminars took place on different potential instruments for innovative financing (other than the airline-ticket levy) including the International Finance Facility (IFF) and IFFIm, taxing financial transactions and reducing tax evasion, a humanitarian lottery, and facilitating and lowering remittance costs for migrant workers. Stamp Out Poverty dominated the seminar on ‘taxing financial transactions and tax evasion’ with both Sony Kapoor and Avinash Persaud speaking to an audience of more than 300 people. We widely disseminated our ‘Sterling Solution’ report, launched in November of last year (written by Avinash Persaud's think-tank ‘Intelligence Capital’), which expertly shows how a Currency Transaction Tax (CTT) can be plumbed into the financial system and how payment of a CTT cannot be avoided.
An important outcome, stated in the Chair's Summary document of the conference, is that a further ‘Forum on Innovative Financing for Development Sources’ has been scheduled for 2007.
David Hillman
Stamp Out Poverty ~ Co-ordinator
UK Government White Paper on Development - Consultation
Later this year the UK Department For International Development (DFID) will publish a White Paper on International Development, setting out a plan for how the UK Government can translate its promises of 2005 into better lives for the poor in developing countries. In the process of drafting the White Paper, DFID have launched a consultation exercise and are seeking submissions from those involved in development at all levels. The consultation is based around a short consultation document and a series of six speeches on White Paper topics by Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for International Development. The consultation process officially runs until 7 April 2006. To encourage a wider consultation, the FFA will be sending DFID the submissions, discussions and comments from this website. So please add your comments to this post by Friday 31 March or take part in the discussions in the forum. Alternatively, you can email them directly to
The Development Studies Association (DSA) of the UK will hold a White Paper consultation meeting at ODI this coming Friday 17 March, which will be moderated by the ODI's director Simon Maxwell. Interested? Click here to see the agenda, and don't forget to send your comments in time for the meeting!
Policy (in) coherence in European Union Support to Developing Countries: A three country case study
Louise Hilditch. Gerrishon K. Ikiara, Moses M. Ikiara, Walter Odhiambo, Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir and Raquel Souza, ActionAid Alliance, October 2003
This policy brief (PDF) attempts to gauge the impact of EU policies on the people and economies of Bangladesh, Brazil and Kenya. The brief focuses to what extent the EC's development themselves form a coherent approach and contains in-depth country studies examining EU policies and their impact on poor people in developing countries.
In search of a common future: The European Union's lost opportunities as a global actor
Simon Stocker, Mirjam van Reisen, Social Watch, 2005
The European Union (EU) has sought to project itself as a leading player within the international community in delivering what is required to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other international commitments. It repeatedly claims that it is pursuing a development oriented approach to trade negotiations, both within the World Trade Organization (WTO) and within its negotiations with developing country regions. In addition it claims that it is continually ensuring that its overall approach to policies remains coherent with its development policies and its objectives for its cooperation with developing countries.
It has recently made important commitments to increase aid and plans to increase the effectiveness of aid. Additionally it identified the priorities for the September Summit preparations as being the "Creation of the Peace Commission, prevention of conflicts, the fight against terrorism, the adoption of principles for making commitments to use force, disarmament, the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the re-enforcement of the United Nations in maintaining peace". It also called on all members of the UN to sign the Convention relating to the prevention of nuclear terrorism that was recently agreed in the UN General Assembly in September. This paper addresses the following questions: How do these various priorities go together? Are the claims that the EU is ready to enter a new era of development cooperation justified by the actions being taken by the EU?