Better quality and reforms. How Spain and France are confronting fund reduction and budget cuts in development aid

Caught in the grip of the worst economic crisis since the last century, European Regions and Local Authorities are forced to do everything they can to balance the public budget. Among the sectors that are most exposed to this turn of the screw, there is decentralised cooperation whose funds risk a serious decrease in some countries. After at least five years in which development aid funds increased significantly, the growth in Spain was abruptly stopped by a sudden turn-about in 2009. Compared to 2008, both local authorities’ contribution to international cooperation for development and the contribution of autonomous communities decreased, as shown in data collected in the annual report of the Federaciòn Espanola municipios y provincias (Femp). The local authorities’ contribution decreased by ?1.6M, from ?148,8M to ?147.2M, 4.6 per cent of the total amount of Spanish bilateral aid, while the contribution of autonomous communities was ?18.7M less, going from ?464.7 to ?446M.
The official figures for 2010 are not yet available but the trend is clear: “the reduction will be confirmed,” anticipates Mercedes Sanchez, head of the Femp international cooperation for development, “but local authorities have already put in place their strategies to meet the commitments they made, while maintaining the quality of their interventions.”
“The crisis is deeply felt by Spanish institutions which are now facing cash flow problems. We are helping them to coordinate with one another in order to avoid a waste of resources,” Sanchez explains. While at the moment the Femp authorities are able to maintain the 0.7 per cent of their budget for the decentralised cooperation, autonomous communities are not able to do the same: even Cataluna, the region with the highest investment (in spite of everything it reached ?58M, 0.37 per cent in 2009) is unlikely to reach the target that is supposed to be achieved in 2012. “The funds have been reduced but this is also an occasion to search for better quality and to introduce suitable financial mechanisms, such as the Tobin Tax (a tax on transactions, ed),” adds Miguel Angel Villena, head of communications for the International Development State Secretariat.
In France the situation is less negative but the overall scenario is not so bright. In the absence of updated data for the years 2010-2011, we have to rely on the statements made by Maryse Dusselier, counselor of the International Affairs and Decentralised Cooperation at Association des Regions de France: “In spite of the deep economic crisis public institutions are going through and the LRAs reform recently adopted by the government, the 2011 budgets endorsed by French Regions do not provide substantial reductions in funding for international cooperation.” A reassuring fact, considering that according to a report issued in September 2010 by the National Commission of Decentralised Cooperation (CNCD), of the ?70M funding for development aid allocated in 2009 by French LRAs, 56 per cent came from the Regions. But not all that glitters is gold. The growth of LRAs development aid (?62M in 2007, versus ?50M in 2005) was stopped in 2009 with ?2M funding less than 2008 (which had been a record year with ?72M). According to Dusselier “starting from 2012, funds will be heavily reduced”.
“Some departments such as the Deux-Sevres have closed their international services,” says Yannick Lechevallier, president of Agence COOP DEC Conseil. “Apart from the figures, LRAs are confronted with at least two challenges. The first involves French taxpayers who, in times of crisis, have a hard time accepting local social cuts while international cooperation funds remain untouched. In November 2010 a group of deputies from the majority party, following complaints from the citizens of Aubagne against development aid, got up and asked the Home Office “what is the advantage that a French territorial community can have from international cooperation with countries outside the OCSE area?” The reply arrived from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to whom “LRAs take part in a strategy of national interest.” And here comes the second challenge: “Today LRAs should question themselves on the position they want to take at international level. Sustainable development requires new concepts of cooperation to live together on the planet, not simply to help others. If LRAs just copy the State or reduce decentralised cooperation to a simple process of transferring skills and expertise, then their models are doomed to failure”.