Aid cuts confirmed

Rome, Aug 5th.

The House of Deputies passed a vote of confidence on the omnibus legislation which makes provision also for a reduction in the grant budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The bill has yet to be published, but, according to the minutes available from the House, AID budget will be shirking by € 170ml in 2009, which accounts for 23% of the resources that were secured at the end of budget cycle last year; the same will happen in 2010.

Long term implications will have to be properly assessed; some experts are implying that the grant budget within the MFA will decline form €732 ml in 2008 to €383ml in 2011. The areas at risk include the GFTAM and voluntary contributions to international organizations (FAO for instance); also, NGOs are very likely to suffer.

Within the space of a few weeks, resources for development cooperation have been subject to legislation tabled by the government and reduced substantially. These measures are in contrast to role that Italy is expected to play as the champion of the fight against poverty in the run up the G8 Summit in 2009.

The budget cycle will be finalised between October and December, when the proper financial and budget bills will be discussed by the Houses. There is still space to right what has been done wrong, by, for instance, commit enough resources to increase the current aid level from a modest 0,19%. Berlusconi has to show whether or not has the profile of an international leader and has the capacity to push the G8 and associates to react consistently to the development crises