Europe must be motor of global cooperation

In the middle of drastic cuts in international help, the fourth UN Conference for Development Financing began today in Sevilla in southern Spanish. Around 50 heads of state and government take part in the meeting. Including high-ranking representatives: inside the European Union such as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President António Costa. The United States has not sent a delegation to Spain, which symbolically stands for the retreat of the United States from international development cooperation. Before the conference, SPÖ-EU delegation manager and foreign politician Andreas Schieder urgently warns that the European Union should not make the same mistakes as the United States. Instead of cuts, the EU has to fill the United States’ vacuum: “Multilateralism, which has brought stability and security in particular for decades, is increasingly threatening to erode. Under President Donald Trump, the United States is increasingly withdrawing from its international responsibility. The resignation from the World Health Organization and the Massive Runs of US development aid are only two of the most visible symptoms of this withdrawal. Not only the international order, as we have known in the past 80 years, but also has real, often devastating consequences for millions of people worldwide. Vacuum leaving the USA. More escape movements, more instability. ” ****

In this context, Andreas Schieder has a sharp criticism of the planned cuts at European level: “The planned cuts of the European Commission in international cooperation sends a devastating signal. Now, in the middle of growing global inequalities, escalating conflicts and a massive retreat from the United States from development cooperation, more European engagement would not be said. In the next multi -year financial framework, the development aid is reduced. (Conclusion) FF