Brown says EU must put debt campaign back on track
|
|
The government yesterday sought to regain lost momentum in the campaign for debt relief when it called on the European Union to take the moral and financial lead in helping the world’s most impoverished nations. Gordon Brown, the chancellor, and Clare Short, the international development secretary, wrote to Brussels urging that the new Prodi commission contribute 1bn euro (£640m) from the European Development Fund to help finance a $2bn millennium trust fund to be used to make debt relief faster and more generous. Mr Brown first made the call for the EU to come up with the money in April, but a decision has been delayed both by opposition from member states - particularly France - and by the lame-duck status of the outgoing commissioners. “Debt relief for the most heavily indebted poor countries is one of the major challenges facing all of us,” the chancellor said yesterday. “This is a major opportunity for Europe to take a strong political lead on one of the great moral issues of our time.” In a letter to the two commissioners responsible for debt relief - Paul Neilson and Chris Patten - the chancellor and the international development secretary said there were no legal impediments to using money lying idle in the EDF and urged officials to “make this one of your first priorities”. Britain, which has been at the forefront of moves to enhance the heavily indebted poor country initiative (HIPC) is concerned that rich countries have failed to come up with pledges of support in the wake of the Cologne G7 in June, which made a commitment to cut the debt burden of the poorest developing countries by $100bn (£62bn). Ms Short said yesterday that she was pleased that this week’s IMF and World Bank meetings would link debt relief to poverty reduction, but added: “We have lost momentum since Cologne.” Part of the funding of HIPC will come from a $2bn plan to release the value of the IMF’s gold reserves, but additional cash will be needed if Britain is to achieve its target of getting 75% of eligible countries through the HIPC process and the remainder on the path to debt relief by 2000. |