As Development Minsiters form across Europe get set to meet and discuss aid human rights organisations and development NGO’s have raised their voices once again claiming that the EU is leaving third world countries out in the cold instead of aiding them. As poor countries face the full impact of the economic crisis, European governments are falling short by nearly 40 billion Euro on their aid promises, a new report from Concord, the European confederation of development NGOs reveals. CIDSE, the international alliance of Catholic development agencies, member of CONCORD, urges the European Commission to set the example stepping up efforts in EU development aid.

 As Development Ministers prepare to meet in Brussels next week, the 2009 Aidwatch report ‘Lighten the load: in a time of crisis, European aid has never been more important’ shows that European governments will not meet their 2010 aid target until 2012 unless serious action is taken now. Many governments are still inflating their aid levels by counting money that does not reach poor people. Missed targets and non-genuine aid will mean poor countries will have missed out on nearly 40 billion Euro by 2010 – enough to increase the income of 380 million Africans living in absolute poverty by one quarter.