Country research by:
Darina Ch. Kadunkova, European Institute, Bulgaria
Vladimír Bartovic, EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Czech Republic
PRAXIS Center for Policy Studies, Estonia
Áron Horváth, Center for Policy Studies at the Central European University, Hungary
Dace Akule, Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS, Latvia
Vitalis Nakrosis, Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Piotr Kaźmierkiewicz, Institute of Public Affairs, Poland
Violeta Alexandru, Institute for Public Policy, Romania
Grigorij Mesežnikov, Institute for Public Affairs, Slovakia
SLOGA Slovenian NGDO platform, Slovenia
Executive Summary
The 10 new member states (NMS) - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia - have upon accession to the European Union (EU) made a commitment to contribute to the EU Development Co-operation Policy (EDCP), and in particular to meet specific targets of official development assistance (ODA) as a percentage of gross national income (GNI). They have also pledged to work towards the fulfilment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets drawn up in 2000, including a halving of the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger, the achievement of universal primary education, and a two-thirds reduction in child mortality levels.
A number of the NMS, notably the Visegrad countries, but also the Baltic states, have a strong focus on promoting democracy, the rule of law and human rights (in the case of the Czech Republic, by no means only in neighbouring countries), and a continuing geographical priority for the NMS is the eastern European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries, as well as Belarus, the western Balkans (and, in the case of Latvia and Slovakia, Central Asia). Iraq and Afghanistan are also recipients of significant levels of development aid commitments.
The emphasis on the transfer of transition experience to other post-communist countries, especially on the EU's eastern and south-eastern borders, is expected to continue, especially in bilateral development co-operation, not least because of the comparative advantage of the NMS through the experience of transition to democracy and a market economy. Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova feature among the priority countries of many NMS. Both Hungary and Slovakia have initiatives - the Szeged Process and the Bratislava-Belgrade Fund respectively - focused on the western Balkans.
The NMS tend towards development co-operation with countries with which they have either geographical or historical ties, combined with deploying comparative advantages, such as transition know-how, or limiting co-operation to a narrow range of sectors. For instance, Bulgaria will commit itself to no more than two sectors per country, while Estonia is engaged extensively in information and communications technology (ICT), for instance in its development co-operation activities with Georgia.
To date, the bilateral development co-operation activities of the NMS towards the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries are very limited. In a number of cases, multilateral contributions to the European Development Fund (EDF) and international organisations are envisaged as the only channels for development co-operation with ACP countries.
Public awareness campaigns, often in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and revised strategies, with an increased focus on poverty reduction, have been introduced in several NMS to include a number of sub-Saharan African states in their priority countries for development co-operation. Bulgaria plans to orientate 50% of increased development aid to sub-Saharan Africa, and Estonia has pledged to establish bilateral co-operation with one least developed country in sub-Saharan Africa.
In its Mid-Term Strategy of ODA 2003-2008, Slovakia set its most important goal as the "transfer of Slovakia's experience and know-how", yet in Slovakia's Foreign Policy Orientation for 2007, the UN Millennium Development Goals are described as "ultimate goals" of Slovak ODA. In addition, agencies dedicated to development co-operation (or departments within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) have either been established or are in the process of being established in most NMS.
A number of the NMS are not on course to meet the targets of spending 0.17% of GNI on ODA by 2010, let alone the target of spending 0.33% of GNI on ODA by 2015. In some cases, this is due to all-round cuts in budget spending.
Bulgaria aspires to meet the targets, but is starting from a very low base (of 0.003% in 2005, albeit with a leap to 0.06% in 2006). The Czech Republic devoted 0.11% of national income to ODA in 2006, but needs to accelerate the rate of increase if it is to meet the target of 0.17% by 2010. Estonia's ODA reached 0.09% of GNI in 2006, but plans to increase it to only 0.1% by 2010.
Hungary's ODA reached 0.13% of GNI in 2006, and with contributions to the EDF, Hungary is planning to reach the level of 0.17% by 2010. Latvia's ODA was slightly under 0.06% of GNP in 2006 and, like Estonia, Latvia plans to raise that to 0.1% by 2010, but wide-ranging public expenditure cuts look set to jeopardise the planned rise to 0.08% in 2008. With ODA close to 0.07% of GNP in 2006, Lithuania is facing a similar need for substantial political will and public support to reach the target of 0.17%.
In Poland, ODA rose from 0.068% of GDP in 2005 to 0.1% in 2006, and the government stands by its commitment to continue the upward trend in development co-operation to meet the targets set for 2010 and 2015. Romania is committed to moving towards the targets from a very low base. While the Slovak government remains committed to meeting the 2010 target of 0.17%, ODA as a share of GDP actually fell between 2005 and 2006, in part due to rising GDP. The latest available figures for Slovenia, from 2005, indicate ODA at 0.11% of GDP, and the government plans to meet the target of 0.17% in 2010.
While the NMS are right to identify comparative advantages, and not to duplicate the efforts of other more established donors, their fast-growing economies should be able to shoulder a greater share of the EU's responsibilities towards supporting development in less developed countries.
A set of recommendations in conclusion to this report point to the need for:
• A concerted public awareness campaign to gather political and public support for increased ODA and an understanding of the UN Millennium Development Goals and development targets
• Combining the existing comparative advantages in the eastern dimension with the application of select expertise in less developed countries
• Co-operation among the NMS to strengthen the flexibility of the EU towards eastern ENP neighbours
• Improving civil society and expert capacity in NMS to transfer know-how to ENP and less developed countries
• Strengthening co-ordination agencies in NMS and between NMS and other EU member states
• Setting of a target date to untie aid
• Making good governance a priority contribution of NMS to EDCP