Mr. Dominic Crowley:

There is a more fundamental question, one I tried to address in my comments. The Global Gateway has seen the substantial flight of EU development funding from the least developed countries to ones where there is more of an economic return on the investment. The countries that have by far the greatest number of acutely poor people are substantially no longer receiving any material aid or support from the EU. For me, it is not so much about how the funding is used but where it is used, and the basis for that decision-making. If Global Gateway is a reaction to the Chinese belt and road process, it is all about trade and not about targeting poverty. That is why we have 10% of the EU global development budget now being spent in the least developed countries. That is the consequence of it.