EU gaat door met ontwikkelingshulp Mali (en)

European Commission

Press release

Brussels, 12 February 2013

EU resumes its development cooperation with Mali

At the Informal Development Ministers meeting in Dublin today, European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, announced the fully-fledged resumption of development aid in Mali.

Andris Piebalgs stated: "The swift adoption by the Malian authorities of a transition roadmap to restore democracy and stability has opened the door for lifting the precautionary measures taken after the coup d'état of March 2012 and for restarting gradually development aid in order to respond to the urgent needs of the Malian people." Some €250 million may be mobilised for this purpose.

He added: "The European Union is showing its long-standing commitment to support Mali by contributing to an ambitious response addressing the root causes of the crisis. We will assist the country in restoring democracy and peace by focusing primarily on reconciliation, conflict prevention and supporting the electoral process. Moreover, we will focus on food security, water and sanitation and make new proposals to help relaunching the economy."

Ministers also exchanged views on the post-2015 development agenda, with Commissioner Piebalgs and EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik.

EU Development Ministers, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva and Commissioner Piebalgs also discussed about EU efforts to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities in the Horn of Africa and in the Sahel region to cope with natural disasters and crisis.

Last point on the agenda was the consequences of the agreement reached at the European Council on the development budget under the EU Multiannual Financial Framework. Commissioner Piebalgs underlined that cuts to the EU aid budget compared to the original proposal of the European Commission mean that EU individual member states will need to increase their own national development budget in order for the EU to respect its global commitment to allocate at 0.7 per cent of our Gross National Income (GNI) for development purposes by 2015. Falling short of that objective, the European ability to achieve the best results in development will be affected.

Background

Between January 28 and February 2, the EU has carried out an in-depth needs assessment mission on the ground.

Following the coup d’état of last year's March, the European Commission had adopted precautionary measures limiting aid programmes to direct support to the local population, to assisting the transition to democracy and to humanitarian aid. The adoption of a "Roadmap for Transition" by the National Assembly of Mali on 29 January 2013 paved the way for resumption of development aid.

For more information

Website of EuropeAid Development and Cooperation DG:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm

Website of the European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/piebalgs/index_en.htm