Since Tuesday June 16 and until further notice, the French Development Agency (AFD) is in default of payment through a credit freeze which does not allow it to honor its commitments. French solidarity with developing countries is at a standstill.
The credits promised to finance solidarity programs with developing countries have been awaited for almost a month. Matignon now intends to regain control of budgetary decisions regarding public development assistance. Which amounts to an unprecedented placement under supervision in the history of the AFD.
In indifference and silence, France is betraying the spirit of the programming law relating to inclusive development and the fight against global inequalities adopted unanimously by our assembly in 2021.
Two thirds of credits intended for NGOs canceled
For two years, two thirds of the credits intended for non-governmental organizations and loans to the most vulnerable countries have been canceled, as well as, this year, half of those allocated to donations to the poorest countries.
1,200 international solidarity projects are threatened. Behind the numbers, there are the lives of those who fight against climate change and hunger; there is children’s health and women’s rights. When France retreats, it betrays its universalist values and leaves the field open to terrorism, mercenaries, mafias and predatory multinationals. It leaves room for new lawless imperialist dynamics, in an African continent which we know will experience the strongest growth over the coming decade. We are missing a crucial meeting for a common world and for our collective security, including in terms of health.
Systemic consequences
Like a butterfly effect, this budgetary decline will produce systemic consequences on the other side of the world: from the fight against pandemics to desertification in the Sahel, it would reflect an assumed choice of withdrawal. Our abandonment of the AFD, in these uncertain times, would amount to giving a political and cultural victory to an extreme right which, for several years, has been committed to methodically destroying international solidarity.
Are we going to regain confidence and restore credit to France by restoring credits to the AFD and public development assistance (ODA), whose action cannot be part of a mercantile logic or short-sighted diplomacy? France cannot lose its diplomatic compass based on peace and development. There is urgency, behind the decisions we will make in the days to come, there are lives and values that are priceless.
About opinions
This text is signed by a guest author. He expresses his opinion and not that of the editorial staff. Our Live section aims to allow the expression of pluralism on religious, social and current affairs subjects, and to encourage dialogue, according to the criteria set by our editorial charter.
Share your opinion in comments or by writing to us at: readers.lacroix@groupebayard.com
