Ms Celia Cranfield:

I agree. There are like-minded states and they all differ depending on whether they have the budget and the fiscal space at the moment. Regarding the principal objectives of the EU's aid, there is quite a group that agrees it should be quite faithful to what is written in the Lisbon treaty, which concerns poverty reduction. There is some disquiet that the proportion of the external action budget that will come under an objective that is much more about mutual benefits would increase. There are some good member states that Ireland can work with, and should work with, over the next two and a half years to make sure that the poverty eradication or reduction goal that looks at sustainable development in partner countries remains really high on the agenda. There are other conditionalities in EU aid. The current Global Europe instrument unfortunately has a positive incentive around co-operation with the EU on EU migration policy. Therefore, if countries co-operate, they can get a little more ODA. My concern would be that, in the current climate, the next proposal, which will be out today, will expand that conditionality and make it much more severe.