'Francophonie' stresses supporting role in EU aid policy

As the European Union embarks on a major revamp of its aid policies to the developing world, the Francophonie organisation believes its close ties with French-speaking African nations can help the Union with "political mobilisation" on development issues.

The euro zone debt crisis has had a major impact on development aid, with some European countries massively cutting their budgets last year as part of austerity measures to restore their finances.

The European Commission has proposed re-orienting its aid policy with an Agenda for Change concentrating on the world's poorest countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Emerging economies like India and Brazil, meanwhile, would see their EU aid budgets reduced drastically.

For the Organisation Internationale de La Francophonie (OIF), the European Commission is "one of the important aid donors in the world" and should remain so.

[...] The organisation, which brings together 79 countries – many of them in French-speaking Sub-saharan Africa –, prefers highlighting the role it can play in mobilising its members on specific development issues.

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