Survey finds poor awareness of aid policies

Only 28 per cent of the Maltese think the government is allocating enough money to help development in poor countries, according to an EU-wide public opinion survey commissioned by the European Commission.

On the other hand, 27 per cent said the government must dedicate more money and 43 per cent did not have an opinion.

The survey asked European citizens about development aid and about their awareness of the United Nations' millennium development goals, which include halving extreme poverty (a billion people live on less than one dollar a day) and achieving universal access to primary education by 2015.

It is the first time that this two-yearly opinion poll on development policy has covered the 25 EU member states.

According to the survey, the public have very real expectations regarding European development policy. Just over half of those interviewed feel that Europe is the actor best placed to help Africa.

The areas in which EU development aid is considered to be the most effective are in the fight against AIDS and other diseases, education, poverty, human rights and legal and illegal immigration.

However, 88 per cent of the respondents have never heard of the millennium goals, four years after they were adopted. The awareness of the Maltese is the lowest in Europe, with only four per cent of those surveyed saying they had heard of them.

Europeans' awareness of the actions being taken is also very limited despite the fact that Europe is the world's leading aid donor. The percentage of people who think the European Commission helps the poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America has fallen from 67 per cent in 1996 to 59 per cent in December 2004.

The Maltese perception is that the US gives more development aid than the EU.