Financing for Development: EU makes strides on tax, but fails to prioritize poorest people

Financing for Development: EU makes strides on tax, but fails to prioritize poorest people
UN conference center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

World leaders at the Third Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa have signed up to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, a new global agreement on how efforts to end extreme poverty will be funded. Alongside the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, several governments made individual commitments on topics ranging from aid to mobilising domestic resources to investing in better data collection to track progress.

EU joined more than 30 stakeholders in signing up to the “Addis Tax Initiative”, intended to strengthen tax systems in developing countries, including through a promise to double aid to support unleashing of domestic resources. 

Tamira Gunzburg, Director of ONE Brussels, said: We are pleased to seethe European Commission prioritising the unleashing of developing countries’ own domestic resources.”

In order to complement its support to partner countries in combating illicit financial flows, the EU should now pass legislation obliging large multinational companies to publicly report their tax information on a country-by-country basis.”

Earlier this year, EU member states reconfirmed their promise to collectively increase aid to 0.7% of national income, this time within the timeframe of the post-2015 development agenda, and to direct 0.2% of national income towards the poorest countries within the same timeframe.

Gunzburg continued: The EU as a whole remains the world’s biggest donor, and has reaffirmed its existing promise to increase aid, also to the poorest countries. Yet there is no plan to increase the share of aid being invested in those countries that need it most.”

“In light of the forthcoming Global Goals to end extreme poverty, the next step for the EU will need to be a prioritisation of the poorest countries by directing half of aid there.”

M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times


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