Campaigners across Europe are telling governments to threaten to withhold funds from the World Bank unless specific changes are made to policy and practice.
Gathering near the French Finance Ministry in Paris on Monday 5 March, campaigners will hold symbolic cheques, in English and French, payable by European governments to the World Bank – but only if reforms are made to harmful lending policies.
Their campaign ‘put your money where your mouth is’ comes as representatives of all European governments start negotiations on the replenishment of the World Bank’s soft loan window, which happens every three years.
More than sixty NGOs from 16 countries, including ActionAid and Christian Aid, accuse the World Bank of applying a misguided development model, undermining countries’ ability to chart their own development paths and often contributing to worsening poverty and environmental degradation.
They point out that European governments are being asked to provide some 60 per cent of funding to the World Bank and urge the governments to demand an end to economic policy conditionality and a phasing out of spending on fossil fuel operations. Over the last year, several European governments – notably the UK and Norway – have threatened to reduce Bank funding.
The Bank should allow recipient governments to choose their own policies and scale up support for renewable energy, they say.
Nuria Molina, policy and advocacy officer at the European Network on Debt and Development said: “Many studies show that the World Bank continues to impose economic policy conditions and that these are often very harmful. This must end.”
Martin Gordon, Christian Aid’s International Campaigns Manager, said: “We cannot accept the glacial pace of change at the World Bank. It is time for European governments to put their money where their mouth is, or international commitments will not be met.”
Jesse Griffiths, policy officer at ActionAid said: “This is a real opportunity for progressive European governments to force the Bank’s hand and make it cede control over economic policy-making to the poor countries it is supposed to be helping.”
