Interview with Murielle Laurent, Member of European Parliament. Ms. Laurent is originally from Yonne. She was Vice-President of the Metropole de Lyon and then Mayor of Feyzin (Rhône) from 2017 to 2024. In 2024, she was elected Member of the European Parliament and joined the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. Within the European Parliament, and as a member of the Committee on Development, Ms. Laurent works to strengthen the EU’s commitment to development cooperation and the fight against global injustice.
In recent years, the European Union has been changing its approach to development cooperation, moving from traditional development aid to international partnerships that supposedly benefit both the EU and partner countries. The new European Commission is expected to move further in this direction in the next few years. Do you believe this approach is helping to rebuild trust with partner countries? What else can the EU do differently to assert itself as a trusted partner?
In this time of conflict, climate and health crisis, and growing inequalities, the EU’s commitments are more crucial than ever before. It is essential for the EU to maintain a very ambitious EU agenda in development policy and effective humanitarian assistance. Investing in development policies with a forward-looking budget will benefit both EU citizens and people worldwide. It will reinforce global stability and security for all. I am convinced that the shift from donor-recipient dynamics towards mutually beneficial partnerships will help to rebuild trust and brings benefits to the local population.
Other players, such as the BRICS countries, have become more assertive and it is crucial for the EU to maintain the trust of its partners at a time when strong alliances are vital. To remain credible and relevant on the world stage, the EU must listen to partner countries, truly support their interests, and deliver now on its international commitments.
Furthermore, to assert itself as a trusted partner, it is essential for the EU to enhance transparency from the very beginning of development projects and to seriously take needs and priorities into consideration. We must also closely monitor implementation and results to ensure real, tangible benefits to local populations.
To this end, the EU must engage in an ongoing and genuine dialogue with state actors, but also from civil society, both within the EU and from partner countries.
There is a broad consensus that grant-based support is not enough to achieve the SDGs. The EU’s new offer for international partnerships, the Global Gateway, heavily focuses on mobilising the private sector for big infrastructure projects. Do you believe the EU is moving in the right direction with this approach? What is the added value of investing in other sectors, such as human development?
Time is running out for the UN 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While Global Gateway and the Team Europe approach are important to increase funds from the private sector for our partnerships, we must make sure that these funds are actually used to reach the SDGs, and more specifically in the interest of human development and for the fight against poverty and inequality.
The development and adoption of the Inequality marker (I-Marker), introduced during the last mandate by Commissioner Urpilainen, is an important tool to ensure the targeted use of EU development funds. The I-Marker ensures that poverty and inequality reduction are the principal objectives of development cooperation (as laid down in Article 208 TFEU), favouring projects that benefit the poorest and most vulnerable to a greater extent, including women. I would like to see the European Commission fully implement the I-Marker by allocating sufficient resources to conducting Impact Assessments, which are crucial for planning programs that adequately target these groups and evaluate the social impact of development cooperation.
In my opinion, it is also of utmost importance to invest largely in the education sector. Education plays a key role in eradicating poverty and inequalities as well as in preventing man-made humanitarian crises. Access to quality education is vital to ensure peaceful, inclusive, and prosperous life for all societies. Currently, more than 52 million children in countries affected by conflict are estimated to be out of school. Children in the Gaza Strip, and a significant number of children in Sudan, have missed more than a year of school. Numerous schools have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in Syria, leaving millions of children without access to learning. Hence, an adequate part of global humanitarian aid must be allocated to education and more actions have to be taken to ensure access to education for all. In order for children to be able to fully focus on their education, they must be healthy. I would also therefore like to see greater EU support for global health.
Although the EU, together with other world actors, has agreed on ambitious SDGs and development principles, finding the finances to achieve these objectives remains a challenge that the EU must rise to.
President Von der Leyen has expressed her desire to develop a future EU budget that is more focused, simpler, and more impactful. She also highlighted the need to revamp the EU’s external action financing. In your view, what should this new external action instrument look like? What level of priority should human development be given in this new instrument?
The current context of worldwide instability generates more and more inequalities. Global disparities are increasing and crises such as wars and climate change, extreme poverty, and hunger are worsening and affecting people around the world. Meanwhile, the far right has gained considerable weight in national and European elections, which has led to shifts in the distribution of priorities. This represents a danger for development budgets, both at EU and Member State level. Hence why, it is more important than ever before to defend an adequate budget for development cooperation to enable us to deliver our commitments of poverty eradication. In particular, we will have to pay particular attention to the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
In my opinion, the EU new external action financing instrument should have as its primary objective to contribute to a more equal world where human rights and the environment are respected.
In addition, any new external action instrument must be transparent. The European Parliament must be involved and have a say on the allocation of funds for specific countries, thematic areas, and on the choice of priorities. The European Parliament’s powers of scrutiny over the Commission must be exercised as appropriate
Finally, constant dialogues with civil society are of the utmost importance. This new instrument must be guided by the human development impact of its actions with particular attention paid to the most vulnerable. It must also allow for new priorities leading to the sustainable development of our partner countries.
Our promise to leave no one behind must come true.
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