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EU citizens would like to see their countries help developing world

By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-15 07:56

A report gives surprising results ahead of UN summit this month

Brussels - Nine out of ten Greeks want to see their severely debt-ridden government help reduce poverty in developing nations, according to a new survey released ahead of the UN summit on development later this month.

In fact, the rate is higher than average - at 89 percent - over other Europeans in the 27 EU member states who expressed the belief that, in moral terms, "the stronger" should help "the weaker."

Some 45 percent said this is "very important" - while 44 percent cited it as "fairly important."

Chinese experts say the findings are positive, and that European politicians should listen to these voices to improve their development strategies overseas.

"I think the result of the survey is a positive signal - and even if some European statesmen are reluctant to increase such aid, they should listen to common people's opinions," said Yang Chengxu, a former Chinese diplomatic envoy to Germany and a researcher at the China Institutes of International Studies.

Supported by the European Commission, the Brussels-based TNS Opinion & Social released the findings late on Monday after surveying 26,500 Europeans this June.

After examining European public opinion on development policy in general and the EU's role as an aid donor in particular, the results are expected to help the EU to improve its new development policy this autumn.

The findings were also made public before the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals this month - just five years ahead of the 2015 deadline for achieving the goals agreed by the state leaders worldwide.

Swedish people are notably the most generous, with 96 percent of respondents saying that helping poor countries is "very" and "fairly" important.

Sweden is followed by Ireland (95 percent), Denmark (94 percent), Finland (94 percent), Luxembourg (93 percent) and the UK (91 percent). In these countries, the official aid figures matched or exceeded the EU target of 0.51 percent of GDP in 2009.

Meanwhile, a number of countries that have been severely stricken by the economic crisis still show relatively lower - yet still significant - levels of overall support for development aid.

These countries include Bulgaria (79 percent), Estonia (84 percent) and Latvia (86 percent).

In addition, the survey has revealed that citizens also back EU commitments to increasing aid. Half of the respondents believe that aid should be increased in line with the targets set by the EU, while 14 percent would increase aid even beyond this.

A non-negligible proportion (29 percent), however, stands ready to give up the promise.

In broader terms, Yang said the EU did not reach UN standards in providing aid for developing or less-developed countries and that the effectiveness of their aid was not so ideal as they had expected.

"And their relations with developing or less-developed countries are not very friendly either, because the EU always poses conditions with their aid", said Yang, such as whether the recipient country is democratic, or if corruption has been eliminated.

Yang said the EU has pinned high hopes on maximizing the benefit of its international aid. The EU, he added, has the intention to cooperate with China to increase international aid and expand its influence.

As to which country or organizations should take the lead in implementing the development projects, the Europeans consider the UN and the World Bank better-placed for their knowledge and experiences in anti-poverty initiatives.

While 17 percent and 15 percent of Europeans believe the EU and the US should play their respective roles in helping the poor countries, 4 percent also think China should fulfill its own responsibilities.

Apart from the government's role, three in 10 Europeans said that they would like to be involved in helping the poor directly.

About 26 percent, for instance, responded that they are willing to donate money, while the rest said they would like to work as volunteers.

Wang Chenyan contributed to this story.

China Daily

(China Daily 09/15/2010 page11)