Mr. Dominic Crowley:

I apologise in advance for the fact that my voice is not the best today. I thank the members of the committee for their time and for the invitation to address them.

I want to speak briefly to the humanitarian aspect of the EU budget, particularly the need for focus to be sustained on least developed countries and fragile and conflict-affected states. The EU's commitment to ensure that resources are provided to where the need is greatest, especially to least developed countries and countries in situations of fragility and conflict is included in the NDICI-Global Europe regulation and is, sadly, more relevant than ever. As has already been mentioned, climate change, conflict and political instability have been compounded by significant cuts in aid budgets across the EU and in the US. These are having the impact of intensifying humanitarian crises, exacerbating fragility and reinforcing the urgent need for stronger EU engagement. Despite the commitment in the NDICI-Global Europe regulation, the proportion of EU bilateral ODA going to fragile and conflict-affected states decreased from 32% to close to 14% between 2019 and 2023. In the same period, the proportion of bilateral ODA going to least developed countries dropped by more than half. Taken together, only one tenth of the EU budget for developing countries now goes to those that are least developed. Looking forward, the EU’s statement of estimates for 2026 proposes a humanitarian aid budget of €1.93 billion. This is insufficient to meet the EU’s expected level of funding and will result in the need for reinforcements from special financial instruments. The reality is a greater level of financing is needed at a time when the margins within heading 6 of the current MFF have already been exhausted, meaning that the potential for adding additional funding during the year no longer exists. This funding shortfall, the lack of flexibility within the margins of heading 6 and the wider pattern of aid cuts globally mean that a growing number of people will face greater levels of risk and vulnerability. Additional resources for humanitarian action must be found within the negotiations on the 2026 budget.

According to the OECD, least developed countries and countries in situations of fragility and conflict are home to 25% of the world’s population but to 72% of the world’s extremely poor people. Prioritising countries in which the world's extremely poor live in future development co-operation instruments is critical. It is in these contexts that most acute human security and development needs are concentrated. Retaining a focus on them would allow the EU to make a more significant difference in achieving sustainable development objectives.

The proposed budget represents only 1.34% of the total EU budget for 2026. Finding additional resources should not be insurmountable. It seems to be a matter of political prioritisation. To achieve the EU’s commitment to providing life-saving assistance to the most fragile and vulnerable, we have four key asks, which we encourage the committee to support. First, a budget of €2.6 billion should be allocated to DG ECHO in 2026 to match its expected level of spending. Consistent with this, the next MFF should see an allocation of a minimum of €18.2 billion for humanitarian action across the seven-year cycle. The new MFF structure must preserve the separate budget lines, responsibility and instruments for humanitarian assistance and international co-operation to protect the delivery of principled humanitarian aid. The emergency aid reserve must be maintained at a minimum amount of €600 million for external action. Member States and the European Parliament must ensure that emergency aid reserve funding is additional to the humanitarian aid budget line and can be mobilised for humanitarian crises outside of the EU throughout the whole financial year. All EU member states should increase the current level of national aid budgets. Any reduction in EU revenue will mean a reduction in funding available for humanitarian action, resilience building and disaster risk reduction, all of which are key to mitigating the impact of crises and contribute to long-term stability. We ask member states to increase their current contributions for principled humanitarian action.