Italian Budget law: no increase to the 2009 minimal aid level

Today, the Parliamentary budget session has officially started in the Senate. The executive budget proposal restate the same financial level of the aid budget for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as in 2009, despite the G8 pledges. The MFA proposed budget for development cooperation is set at 326 million euro, in real terms the same level as in 2009. However, only 173 million euro could be committed to new development initiatives, as the remaining is needed to fund on going multiannual activities and cover administrative costs. This financial amount is even more limited when compared with how much Italian NGOs are able to collectively fund raise from the private sector- up to 300 million euro per year. More broadly, the whole budget does not seem to allocate financial resources to actually pay the first Italian instalment to the IDA 15 - 284 million euro. Needless to say that the Italian contribution to the Global Find against AIDS, tubercolosis and malaria, together with the IFAD and the Asian development Funds contributions would need an extra budgetary appropriation to be met. The Government has to present a special law to cover almost 1 billion euros to fund peace-keeping and enforcement missions in 2010, that will provide the last opportunity for Italy to star honouring its aid pledges, to support countries facing the economic effects of the crisis.