In an increasingly interconnected world, health, social, economic and environmental crises do not stop at borders. Investment through the Global Europe Instrument (GEI — the EU’s main fund to advance international cooperation, global health, climate action, gender equality and humanitarian assistance) is essential to protect lives and uphold fundamental rights both within and beyond Europe.
For this reason, at Salud por Derecho we have joined other European health and development organisations in the document Global Europe: A blueprint for long-term prosperity, published by MFF Hub, which sets out proposals to strengthen and better orient this instrument.
To ensure these investments achieve their maximum impact and to maintain the EU’s global influence, the European Parliament and Member States must:
Sustain ambition & deliver at scale:
- Safeguard the €200.3 billion budget for the GEI as the bare minimum for a credible global player.
- Agree on new Own Resources.
- Ensure decommitments flow back to the budget line of origin.
Deliver impact through proven, effective investments:
- Reinstate cross-cutting spending targets, dedicating 20% of the GEI budget to promoting human development, 50% for climate and environment spending and 85% to projects promoting gender equality.
- Introduce restrictions and safeguards on direct grants to the private sector, including a €5m cap and public disclosure.
- Preserve grant funding by capping the proportion of the GEI that can be used for guarantees.
- Reject aid conditionality.
Uphold transparency and oversight:
- Reject provisions that allow the GEI’s ODA target to be adjusted during the course of the budget cycle.
- Set minimum levels of funding for strategic investments, including sub-Saharan Africa, Humanitarian Assistance and the global pillar.
- Define and ring-fence 70% of the geographic and global pillars for programmable activities.
Here you can read the full document.
