March 29. 2024. 7:44

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Rules on refugee costs make EU states main recipients of development aid


EU countries have become the main recipients of their own development aid, statistics published on Wednesday (12 April) by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have revealed.

The twenty EU countries who are members of the Development Assistance Committee at the Paris-based OECD reported Official Development Assistance of €87 billion, an increase of almost 19% compared to 2021. This represented 0.57% of their ODA/Gross National Income ratio, the closest the EU has come to meeting the 0.7% target agreed upon at the United Nations in 1970.

However, only four EU countries: Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark and Germany met the 0.7% target

However, most of the increase is due to hosting refugees in donor countries at the cost of €25 billion – equivalent to 14.4% of total ODA – which has risen dramatically in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine. More than €15 billion allocated to domestic activities to respond to the influx of Ukrainian refugees was ODA.

The figures, which see EU donors in the unlikely position of being the recipients of their own aid, do not come as a major surprise. More than 8 million Ukrainian refugees have sought protection and shelter in the EU since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and the OECD’s rules allow in-country refugee costs to be classified as development aid.

But critics say that these rules risk devaluing development aid.

“The decision to keep reporting domestic costs as ODA undermines its purpose and is diminishing the credibility of the EU as a reliable partner. It’s still not too late to change gear and exclude refugee costs from the final numbers,” said Celia Cranfield, head of advocacy at CONCORD, the confederation of European development NGOs.

Slovakia, Luxembourg and Belgium partially exclude refugee costs from their reporting.

Meanwhile, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact watchdog in the UK revealed that the government spent around a third of the aid budget, £3.7 billion, at home — mainly on hotels for refugees – an increase of 487% since 2020. That represents more than the UK spent on bilateral aid in Africa and Asia combined, and the pattern is replicated across much of the EU.

The new numbers show the UK has been “spending at home five times what we spend in Africa’” a UK official conceded.

Sweden has also announced significant cuts to its aid budget and a 25% cut in its funding for UN agencies. Germany has also made deep spending cuts, with many blaming donor fatigue for the cuts.

‘Donor fatigue is a political choice, and it is a mistake,’ Achim Steiner, administrator of the UN development programme, told EURACTIV last month