An effective aid programme is also one which doesn't duplicate what others are doing. I remember being appalled as I drove through Nepal, probably now the world's poorest country, to see huge billboards advising the traveller that he was lucky enough to be driving on the next piece of road thanks to the Government of Great Britain/Germany/ France, etc. What the Nepali people - average annual income ÂŁ120 - make of this flag-waving I dread to think. But, at another level, it also illustrates the individualistic nature of our bilateral aid programme. Britain currently gives aid to 123 different countries, but many of these programmes are very small and do not get to the roots of poverty and injustice. We could save on administrative costs, and make our aid more effective if the European Development Fund (EDF) was used to co-ordinate all European aid programmes. An internationally respected politician such as Willy Brandt, Hans Dietrich Genscher, David Owen or Edward Heath should be asked to oversee it, and be answerable to the European Parliament. In 1990 the European People's Party published its document, 'World Economy and Development - A Christian Democratic Contribution',10 The party's Secretary General, Thomas Jansen, has a different vision of Europe and its relationship with the rest of the world to the myopic and xenophobic vision of British politicians who regard the world beyond Dover with suspicion and fear. In the Introduction he said:
World Government remains a desideratum though one hardly dares mention it, not wishing to appear utopian. In the understanding of the Christian Democrats the establishment of the European Community was one contribution amongst others towards the creation of a more just world order. Its onward evolution to political union only becomes wholly meaningful when it is regarded as one step to world federation ... A social world economy is the counterpart of the social market economy, that was initially designed by Christian Democracy in Europe ... It is based on the idea that the interplay of market forces is subject not only to its own inherent laws of the market, but also to a social obligation, which is to ensure a social balance, social partnership and social justice.
The Christian Democrats list four key concepts which help them arrive at their policy for the underdeveloped world: justice, broad responsibility, solidarity and good husbandry. They say: