Politicians question development aid policy

In spite of the worldwide financial crisis, many heads of government meeting at the UN headquarters in New York last week promised to pump considerable amounts of money into the millennium development goals. But some Dutch politicians have doubts about the way the Netherlands gives development aid to the third world.

For the first time in decades, the amount of money that the Dutch automatically set aside for development aid – 0.8 percent of national income – came under fire during the country’s recent parliamentary debate on the 2009 budget.

Until now, the level of development aid has been more or less a taboo subject in the Netherlands.

The discussion was initiated by the opposition right-wing liberal party (VVD) who said the Dutch budget for aid should be brought into line with the European average of 0.44 percent of the national income. This would effectively mean a cut of nearly 50 percent.

VVD leader Mark Rutte was not fazed by the criticism that came his way: “We’re buying off a guilty conscience and it has to stop”, he said.

Immoral

Arend-Jan Boekestijn is the VVD’s development aid expert in parliament and masterminded his party’s stance on development aid. “I’m proud of the fact that the parameters of the debate on aid have shifted”, he said.

“Before, all you could discuss was efficiency but now we’re coming down to brass tacks: development aid is part of the problem. No country ever profited by it. And if people say that’s immoral I’ll throw that right back at them. Pumping millions into corrupt and cruel governments, how immoral is that?”

In a recent article, Boekestijn lists 17 ways of cutting down on development aid. His conclusion is: “Stop this policy of transferring money from poor people in the West to rich people in Africa.”

Malicious

Aid minister Bert Koenders (Labour) is scathing about Boekestijn’s ideas: “Some of his arguments are manifestly wrong and he knows it. He is making a mockery of the current policy of giving aid and it’s downright malicious.”

Koenders blames the VVD’s drive to cut the aid budget on pressure from more extreme right wing politicians such as break-away VVD members of parliament Rita Verdonk and the leader of the populist PVV party, Geert Wilders. The VVD however denies this.

However, the VVD’s tough stance on aid may damage the party’s chances of electoral success. Polls indicate that an overwhelming majority of Dutch people still support government aid to developing countries.

Solidarity

“Of course, it depends on how you put the question”, says Sibolt Mulder of polling organisation Nipo which specifically included PVV voters in its opinion poll on development aid. “Even they weren’t against development aid – in fact, they showed a marked solidarity with poor Africans."

They said things like: “We’re taken for a ride by managers and politicians and so are they,” Mulder says.

A small section of the population has always been in favour of cutting the budget for development aid but that minority was not represented in parliament until a few years ago. Mulder: “But the question is whether the combined seats of the VVD, PVV and Verdonk [leader of the nationalist party TON] actually over-represent this group. The VVD may well have overplayed its electoral hand.”