News for December, 2011

The European Commission budget proposals for its external instruments for 2014-2020

December 13th, 2011

The European Commission adopted budget proposals for its external instruments from 2014-2020. They will allow the Union to fulfil its responsibility on the global stage: fighting poverty and promoting democracy, peace, stability and prosperity. The range of instruments will support developing countries as well as countries in the European neighbourhood and those that are preparing accession into the EU. The Commission will seek to target its resources where they are most needed, where they will have the highest impact while ensuring more flexibility to be able to react swiftly to unforeseen events. This budget will also enable the EU to further reinforce its role on the global stage and promote its interests and value

Most relevant in the context of Reproductive health and family planning is the Regulation establishing a financing instrument for development cooperation (€23,295 million Euro) and more specifically the programme on global public goods and challenges.

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/how/finance/documents/prop_reg_instrument_dev_coop_en.pdf

 

Dutch minister for Development Cooperation repairs budget cut for sexual and reproductive health and rights

December 8th, 2011

The Dutch minister for Development Cooperation, Ben Knapen, repairs a budget cut of € 35 million for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) including HIV/AIDS. Instead he invests an extra €8 million. This is mentioned in a letter send to the Dutch Parliament.

Herewith the Minister wants to make the case that SRHR is a priority for the Dutch government in development cooperation, as was announced earlier. The fact that SRHR is a priority for the Dutch government was put into question by Rutgers WPF, its Alliance partners and the Dutch Parliament when the budget for 2012 became public in September.  The extra investments in 3 other priority areas for Dutch development cooperation, to know (1) food security and economic development, (2) water, (3) peace and security, were crystal clear in the proposed 2012 budget.  However the budget line of which SRHR is part of -the SRHR, HIV/AIDS and health budget line- was cut with 35 million due to the economic crisis. Read more…

Countdown 2015, cocktail event in the European Parliament: “Southern voices on the role of Family Planning in reaching the MDGs”

December 2nd, 2011

On Tuesday, the 22nd of November, the Countdown 2015 Consortium, IPPF European Network and Marie Stopes International organized a cocktail reception hosted by MEP Katarína Nevedalová, Member of the European Parliament working group on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and development, entitled “Southern voices on the role of Family Planning in reaching the MDGs”.

Around a glass of wine and snacks, key experts from the Global South provided representatives from the European Parliament, European Commission, UN and European civil society with first-hand testimonies on the importance of reducing the Unmet Need for Family Planning in the fight against poverty.

Read more…

Spain: New Goverment and International Cooperation

December 2nd, 2011

On 20th November 2011 the conservative party Popular Party (PP) has won with an overall majority in Spain General elections.

The Popular Party (PP) has obtained 44.59% of the votes, which will entitle them to 186 seats at the Parliament (compared to 132 seats obtained in 2008 general elections) and the Socialist party has only obtained 28.59% of the votes, a loss of 59 seats in comparison to the 2008 elections.

Read more…