Slashing foreign assistance will leave Europe paying price of ‘one crisis after another’, says Alexander De Croo
The EU will undermine its own strategic priorities if it continues to shrink its foreign aid programmes, the UN development chief, Alexander De Croo, told Euractiv.
“The biggest mistake you can make as Europeans is to say: ‘We are going to turn our back on the rest of the world’,” he said.
De Croo argued that Europe should address increasingly frequent global crises – from climate change-induced disasters to wars – through “proactive” development schemes that reduce the risk of armed conflict or mass migration.
The bloc must remain globally “engaged” rather than rely on “reactive” policies introduced only after disaster has struck, he said.
