A report co-authored by GUE/NGL’s Neoklis Sylikiotis on development aid effectiveness has been adopted by the 33rd session of the Africa Caribbean Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) inter-parliamentary Assembly in Malta this week.

With the aim of promoting the interdependence of North and South, the ACP-EU assembly brings together parliamentarians the EU, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific and is the only institution of its kind in the world.

Written with Co-Rapporteur and Zambian MP Sebastian Kopulande, Sylikiotis’s report aims to improve aid and development effectiveness in ACP-EU cooperation.

Speaking after its adoption, Co-Rapporteur Sylikiotis said:

“This is a first step and the proof that we can achieve a compromise by maintaining high social standards and being respectful to the needs and interests of the people. This is how we should be building future relationships with ACP countries with the key priority being the reduction, and in the long term, the eradication of poverty”.

“Several major points were adopted in the report. One of the most important was the condition that EU aid should not be linked to the control over migration and refugee flows whilst also criticising the EU’s push for ‘migration compacts’ and attempts to externalise border management,” added Sylikiotis.

“Furthermore, the report calls for a new framework of cooperation that is genuinely capable of promoting the sovereign development of the ACP countries. It also calls for a clear roadmap from EU countries on how and when they will achieve the goal for 0.7% of GDP for development aid.”

“In addition, the report stresses that development aid should be given in the form of grants – not loans – so as to avoid making the debt burden heavier. It also reiterates the need to guarantee ACP countries’ rights to food security,” he concluded.