Caritas urges EU governments to take action to meet their commitment to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

In a new position paper and a recent open letter to EU governments, Caritas Europa outlined a number of achievable targets.

The upcoming Foreign Affairs Council on 10-11 May and again on 14-15 June will shape the EU’s approach to the UN Summit on MDGs on 22-24 September.

Caritas believes that the EU should:

1. target their MDG actions on people in need rather than on strategic or trade considerations,

2. enhance food security, empower women, halt the spread of HIV and AIDS and other diseases,

3. ensure environmental sustainability is integrated in all EU policies,

4. ensure the impact of migration is also taken into account,

5. set binding timetables for individual official development assistance (ODA) delivery targets,

6. recognise the role of civil society

7. ensure Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) at all stages, in order to guarantee that taxpayer-funded aid can have a maximum impact.

Marius Wanders, Secretary General of Caritas Europa, said “These recommendations are based on Caritas’s extensive global experience helping some of the world’s most vulnerable people. For these people, the MDGs are not a matter of the EU’s credibility in keeping its commitments, but a matter of basic survival.”

For further information, please contact Annalisa Mazzella by phone (+32 (0)2 235 03 94) or by mail (amazzella@caritas-europa.org).

Read the open letter

Read the position paper