BRUSSELS – Last week, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached an agreement for the 2020 EU budget to increase the Development Cooperation Instrument by EUR 20 million, which was today approved by the European Parliament during a plenary vote.
While the +18,5% increase in payment appropriations to a total of EUR 257,24 million compared to last year is a positive one, this increase falls short of compensating for the accumulated human development funding gap, which includes funding for SRHR.
Crucial to promoting education, youth, health and gender equality through access to family planning and sexual and reproductive health and rights as well as the Sustainable Development Goals, the EU has repeatedly committed to allocating 20% of its official development aid to human development and social inclusion. This budget however is yet another step further from the 20% commitment.