Fighting poverty, promoting responsibility

In his inaugural speech in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Dirk Niebel of the Free Democratic Party pointed out that “poverty and educational poverty are two sides of the same coin”. Education is thus one of six “key sectors” for Germany’s development policy in the next four years. That is spelled out in the coalition agreement between Christian Democrats and Free Democrats. The other key sectors are
– good governance,
– rural development,
– health,
– protection of climate, environment and resources, and
– economic cooperation to boost and protect the private sector (through public-private partnerships, microfinance and support for infrastructure development, for instance).

Germany’s new government emphasises developing countries’ self-financing capabilities and their responsible ownership of policymaking. As Germany’s approach to foreign affairs in general, development policy is to be marked by “values and interests in equal measure”.

The coalition agreement refers to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. It pledges allegiance to the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, promising that Germany will move “responsibly in the context of the federal budget” towards the goal of spending 0.7 of GNP on aid. More funds, however, would have to go along with more effectiveness, it is argued. Accordingly, the new coalition has agreed to merge Germany’s agencies for Technical Cooperation and bring them closer in line with Germany’s Financial Cooperation.

According to the coalition agreement, the government is striving for a ratio of two thirds bilateral programmes to one third multilateral and European programmes. In bilateral cooperation, the German influence is stronger than in cooperation that involves several donors. In respect to Africa, the coalition agreement puts a “cross-departmental policy” on the agenda. In respect to Afghanistan, the ruling parties stress the principle of “networked security”, according to which there can be no security without reconstruction and no reconstruction without security.

Other aims of the new Federal Government include the promotion of human rights and the rule of law internationally. In the EU context, moreover, it strives for reforms to make EU policies more “coherent and complementary” with an emphasis on subsidiarity, a principle that demands that every decision be taken at the lowest level possible. Accordingly, the government demands better parliamentiary control of the ongoing European Development Fund.

Christian Ruck, the Christian Democrats’ spokesperson on development issues, said during an event of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the party’s think tank, in November that the new government’s approach to development is “picking up where the previous government left off”. He indicated that the new government would aim to increase cooperation with emerging economies as well as triangular cooperation, in which established donors team up with emerging nations to fund assistance to poorer countries. Core issues of cooperation with emerging markets were said to be the rule of law, climate and environmental protection and science.

The coalition agreement is in favour of “instruments of a close-to-market nature”, so services should gradually be offered against payment. Which developing countries the BMZ will cooperate with in future was not disclosed by the time D+C went to press. The coalition agreement mentions “a limited number of partner countries”. Minister Niebel, however, did announce that bilateral technical cooperation with China, which amounts to around € 28 million per year, would be discontinued.

Concerning world trade, a fast and development-friendly conclusion of the Doha Round is a stated aim of the coalition. “Export subsidies and intervention mechanisms are to be reduced,” the coalition agreement reads, pointing out at the same time that “Europe’s model of agriculture” deserves concern.

(se/cir/dem)