Italy: Aid to make it onto electoral agenda, say NGOs

Walter Veltroni, leader of Italy?s Democratic Party (Pd), met with Italian third sector leaders and representatives of Italian NGOs on Tuesday 11th March to discuss development and foreign aid policies. Veltroni, who is also one of the candidates for president in the national elections that will be held April 13-14, has responded to the appeal launched by Italian development NGOs by expressing his will to rewrite the law that regulates Italian external aid and development, Law 49/87.

Law 49 was approved in 1987 and, according to the NGOs, it is high time to bring it up to date with the changed international climate. ?The desire for safety that citizens call for today?, said the Italian Association of NGOs in a press release today, ?is inextricably linked to the state of social justice and human rights in the whole of the world. As one of the 8 great nations in the world, as members of the UN and the EU, Italy must make a serious and coherent commitment to the international community and in particular must act to fight against poverty, be charitable towards the populations of the world?s South and promote human rights universally?.

The meeting between civil society and Veltroni, that took place in Padova, was a chance for NGOs not only to stake their demands but also to prise a political commitment out of the Democratic party.

Four demands for the election campaign
NGOs highlighted 4 main demands and called on whoever wins the coming elections to: ?Start their mandate with a new spirit and an innovative approach that may lead to the establishment of a legal framework more appropriate to the international situation today?.

These are the demands made by Italian development NGOs in Padova on March 11th:
-A commitment to rewrite and pass a law for external aid and development;
-The creation of a Vice Minister for international development within the Ministry for Foreign Affairs;
-Efficient tools that guarantee that appropriate and sufficient resources will be allocated for development needs while the legislative reform of law 49 takes place;
-That the national financial plan for 2009 double the amount of resources to be allocated to development and that a timetable be established and followed that outlines the commitments that Italy made to the international community, and in particular to the EU, in 2002.

?The Democratic party was born ? to propose a radically different political approach than the one that has been in effect during all these years? answered Walter Veltroni, leader of Italy?s ?new? Democratic party. ?Fighting against poverty, giving people the hope of living a dignified life are not only a moral imperative but a real necessity? continues Veltroni in his speech and open letter to Italian NGOs at the meeting in Padova.

Veltroni admitted that Italy is ?unacceptably late? in fulfilling its commitment to the UN?s Millenium Objectives. And added that Darfur, Congo, Somalia and Zimbabwe are tragedies that need to be faced today, not tomorrow. He also stated that Italy?s new external aid priorities are to be Aids, food security and the democratization of developing countries.

Five development goals promised
?Our country?s civil society is highly skilled, we have a wealth of NGOs, local institutions and charities?, applauded Veltroni, who added that ?it is time to value this wealth by rewriting the development law and increasing the amount of resources to be allocated towards development?.

The Democratic party has promised to meet the demands made by the NGOs should they win the elections, namely to:
-Reform the law on development 49/87;
-Create an agency for external aid and development to manage Italian foreign cooperation;
-Increase the amount of public funds to be allocated to development and to achieve the EU objectives of 0.51% of Gdp by 2010 and of 0.7% Gdp by 2015;
-Instate a Vice Minister for development within the Ministry for Foreign Affairs;
-Support the development of voluntary civil service as it is an important contribution to foreign development.

Certainly these promises are nothing to write home about. ?NGOs have been pushing to reform law 49/87 since the early 90?s? says Michele Nardelli, Italian journalist and founder of the Osservatorio sui Balcani, who believes that a true reform can only come from a deep consideration of the international development crisis that the world faces today.

Globalisation, environmental emergency and wars on the one hand, and on the other decades of aid and development policies. According to Nardelli it is time to ask our selves what development and what developing really means, and how effectively development NGOs have managed to ?teach men to fish today to feed their families tomorrow?.