In France, while the budget is still under discussion in the National Assembly, the ministries of Economy, Finance at Bercy and the Ministry of Civil Service specified on Sunday October 27 where they expected to find five billion euros in savings already announced. The details of these had not yet been communicated. Development aid is once again called upon, to the dismay of those involved in international solidarity.
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“ We are not even in the “at the same time” on questions of financing international aidwe are in renunciation », deplores Jean-François Corty, president of the NGO Médecins du monde, interviewed by RFI.
On Sunday October 27, the Ministry of the Economy therefore announced that public development assistance (ODA) would be used to the tune of an additional 640 million. Targeted reductions which come in addition to a reduction already announced of more than 20% on the 2025 budget, compared to the amount voted last year.
In total, the development aid budget has been cut by almost two billion euros. A considerable sum. “ We are thinking of associations which depend on funds linked to the French State and which will be in difficulty », explains Jean-François Corty. The latter denounces a reversal “ in a global context of piling up crises where inequalities are increasing “.
“ There is a big impact for development and the climate »
On France Culture This Monday October 28 in the morning, Rémy Rioux, Director General of the French Development Agency (AFD) explained what we would probably have to give up: “ When we go to the territories within a country that are the most disadvantaged, that’s where you need budgetary resources, particularly to do difficult things where there is a big impact for development and climate. »
Last week, around a hundred NGOs in the international solidarity sector signed an open letter addressed to the President of the Republic asking him to “ a strong signal in favor of international solidarity “. Associations which also deplore another renunciation: in the government’s project, taxes on financial transactions and on plane tickets must increase significantly, but they will no longer be used to directly finance development aid as planned by a law passed in 2021.
“ This law not only allows a contribution to international solidarityinsists Jean-François Corty, signatory of this open letter. It also makes the symbolic and political link between the challenges of globalization and taxation practices. »
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