BRUSSELS, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso Monday criticized the U.S. development aid strategy ahead of a U.N. summit of world leaders.
Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, the former Portuguese premier said: "To use cases of corruption as a pretext for not being more committed to aid is not the right approach." Washington has long resisted calls to increase aid spending, arguing the money is wasted without political reforms in developing countries.
The head of the Brussels-based EU executive body said a renewed commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to cut the number of people living in poverty by half by 2015, were the most important result he would like to see from the New York summit.
"Twenty-five thousand people a day are dying and they could be saved. This is a human tragedy."
The 25-member bloc is currently the world's aid biggest donor, spending $43.5 billion a year, or 55 percent of all development aid. By 2015 the EU expects to have reached the long standing U.N. target of 0.7 percent of gross national product on overseas development aid.
"This is not gesture politics. We are putting our money where our mouth is," Barroso said, challenging other developed countries to follow the EU's lead.
