Some relevant points of analysis from the German Development Minister - First 100 Days in Office

 

The new centre-right-liberal Government in Germany has been in office for 100 days now - time to review their performance to date and explore in particular, how the new Development Minister Dirk Niebel from the Liberal Party has faired so far.

• Taken from an analysis done by DSW colleagues

ON THE PLUS SIDE

•  Health was mentioned in the Coalition Treaty as one of the six development priorities. In his press statement after 100 days in office, Niebel explicitly mentioned health as one of the four focus areas of the Development Ministry (next to rural development, good governance and education). These focus areas are to be embedded in a human rights context.

• Niebel has announced that he intends to increase support for the civil society sector.

• -A broad coalition of German NGOs, were able to avert a significant planned cut to the Global Fund (by 58 million Euros). The present budget even foresees an increase by 4 million Euros for 2010.

POINTS OF CONCERN

• The 0.51% ODA/GNI target for 2010 will be missed. Niebel has stated that he is committed to the 2015 0.7% goal but that he does not consider the interim 0.51% target to be binding.

•  Despite support from the Chancellor, Niebel has ruled out support for a financial transaction tax, which would be a useful tool to raise additional funds for the health MDGs among others.

• The coalition treaty has underlined the Liberal support for a 1/3 multilateral 2/3 bilateral funding ratio. Niebel is a strong supporter of this policy and claims to have parliamentary backing for it. This is an obstacle to Germany's funding effective multilateral instruments such as the Global Fund. DSW reports that in a personal discussion with them however he signaled that he prioritises aid effectiveness over a strict implementation of this rule, which allows us some leeway.

---