Inflated, decreasing and diverted EU Aid
The progressive climb towards the 2030 Agenda is broken

For the first time in 5 years, the EU's aid spending decreased in 2017. This means, at the current rate of growth, the EU would need another 40 years to meet the 0.7% ODA/GNI target, reveals CONCORD AidWatch Report 2018.

While the EU remains the world's largest aid donor, EU aid decreased by 4% compared to 2016 and inflated aid still represented 19% of the total EU aid budget in 2017. The decline in EU aid is highly correlated to the decrease of in-donor refugee costs and debt relief reported as ODA, respectively dropping off 10% and 82% compared to last year.

Notably, the global aid level to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) has increased by 4% compared to last year, for the first time since 2013. However, the gap to LDCs is still huge with only 0.11% of EU GNI reaching these countries, instead of the 0.15% commitment by 2020.

Considering these data and the current negotiations on the future EU Budget, CONCORD calls on the European Institutions and EU Member States to ensure that the rights and priorities of people living in poverty, the quality of aid and the principles of effective development cooperation stand at the centre of EU development budgeting and programming.

The AidWatch Report is available!

Since 2005, development NGOs from all EU countries have come together every year to produce the annual AidWatch report. CONCORD AidWatch monitors aid spendings and formulates recommendations on the quality and quantity of aid provided by EU Member States and the European Commission.

By providing the data and refined analysis, CONCORD wants to hold EU leaders accountable to their commitments to dedicate 0.7% of their Gross National Income to development assistance and to use this aid in a genuine and effective way.

To get the full insights and figures, read the new report!

The Report 2018