France’s public development aid reduced by 800 million euros

The government announced 800 million euros in savings on public development aid. A blow to France’s international solidarity.

The countries affected by these savings as well as the proportions have not yet been defined, but the overall sum announced by the French government is considerable. 800 million euros, at least 10% of all aid that France chooses to allocate each year. It should be noted that a large part of the total budget for public development aid cannot be reduced, either because it falls under the operation of the ministries responsible for distributing this aid, or because France has firm and binding commitments, on which she cannot return.

However, with this announcement, France is going back on its promise to maintain its aid to developing countries, and even to increase it, since the 2021 programming law provided for a gradual increase in development aid of 5 billion euros within two years. France even organized an ambitious summit in June 2023 for a new financial pact and a global battle plan to reduce poverty and fight climate change. All this seems quite incoherent today, in the eyes of Louis-Nicolas Jandeaux, spokesperson for the NGO Oxfam. “There is a credibility issue at the international level, which is terrible. The very initiator of the summit is in the process of backing down on all his diplomatic commitments, he explains. This cut will have an impact in the weeks and months to come, in the discussions at the United Nations, at the G20, it is a very negative signal.”

Africa particularly concerned

Two avenues for savings are being considered by the Ministry of Finance. On the one hand, the bilateral donations allocated so far, for example to the Sahel countries, as a priority, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. These three nations were recently overthrown by military coups and are considered “incompatible” diplomatically with French foreign policy. In 2021, they received around 300 million euros in aid from France.

The second targeted budget, confirmed by the government, is that of money intended for UN humanitarian mechanisms, to support education, health or avoid famine in areas affected by crises. This budget also concerns emergency funds to help, for example, Turkey and Syria, after the earthquake of 2023, the Horn of Africa, affected for 5 years, by drought, or even Sudan, devastated by internal conflict. Sudan, for which France will organize, in April 2024, an international conference, intended to raise humanitarian funds.