“These [partnership] packages will reinforce the link between external action and internal priorities, such as energy security, the supply of critical raw materials,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin wrote in an internal note seen by POLITICO laying out the EU’s next multi-year budget.
The potential shift would see the EU’s development agenda emulate that of the U.S. and the U.K., both of whom use foreign aid as leverage to deliver on domestic voters’ priorities. This would be a big change from the EU’s current aid model, which largely comes without strings attached.
However, before additional conditions can be added to payments, the EU must convince key lawmakers, NGOs and member countries, who must unanimously approve the new rules, that this is a better system.
That might not be easy. Critics say that this system could stymie the EU’s efforts to reduce poverty across the world.
“This is a strategy that could undermine the quality of EU development aid,” said María José Romero from Eurodad, an NGO focused on debt management in poor countries.
“There is not a single member state who supports this approach,” said an EU diplomat who, like others quoted in this story, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive topics.