25/2/2005
Europeans Expect The EU To Act As Driving Force For Development

A European opinion poll on development issues conducted in all 25 member states of the Union has concluded that the European public expects the EU to play a central role in international development, especially in Africa. But public awareness of Commission activities in this field, and of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is limited.

The Eurobarometer survey, conducted at the end of 2004 interviewed almost 25,000 people right across the EU, included questions on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which include halving extreme poverty and securing universal access to primary education in 2015.

Despite the fact that Europe is the world’s leading aid donor awareness of EU development policy and actions is very limited, the survey showed. The percentage of people who think that the European Commission helps the poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America fell from 67% in 1996 to 59% in December 2004. And almost nine out of every ten people have never heard of the Millennium Goals, four years after they were adopted at a UN summit of world leaders. Nevertheless the same group has very real expectations regarding European development policy. Most notably, 51% of those interviewed feel that Europe is the actor best placed to help Africa.

Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, has undertaken to increase EU public awareness of the Commission's development activities as well as of the Millennium Development Goals. "European taxpayers have the right to know how their money is being spent, how we help the developing countries, how we are fighting against poverty and infectious diseases and what we are doing to promote good governance, democracy and fundamental rights," he said.

Full results can be seen at

: http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/index_en.htm