EU

Elise Ford, Head of Oxfam’s EU office, said:

The European Union, which holds eight seats out of twenty four on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board, has made an offer to rotate some of their IMF board seats with middle-income countries

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, on behalf of the European Union, today proposed a package of 1 billion Euros [$1.3 billion] to support reaching the MDGs in African, Carib

EU heads of state agreed today to temporarily reduce tariffs on a number of key Pakistani products as soon as possible, and find a way to bring Pakistan into the EU's special trade benefits

International development organizations Oxfam, Plan, Eurodad and Concern Worldwide called today on EU leaders, meeting tomorrow for the first time to examine Europe’s role as a global power, to shift gear in their response to Pakistan.

A special Eurobarometer report on development aid and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), published today by the European Commission, reveals that 9 out of 10 Europeans express steadfast support for overseas aid despite the economic recession in Europe.

Kristalina Georgieva, European Humanitarian Commissioner, today visited Pakistan to see the effect of the devastating floods on the country. More than 17 million people are now affected by the floods – in an area that now constitutes the world's largest freshwater lake.

2010 saw Europe missing their poverty targets and today Heads of State compounded this by failing to put new commitments on the table to achieve their 2015 aid targets and keep their promises to the world’s poorest people.

EU Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting today in Luxembourg discussed how the EU could best support the lifting of the blockade on Gaza. Oxfam welcomes the discussion, but is disappointed that it failed to result in a concrete plan to end the blockade.

EU Development Ministers have just recommited to an old promise made by donors back in 1970s, failing to provide any guarantees to poor countries that Europe is serious about getting back on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals, warns Oxfam.