BRUSSELS, June 9 (UPI) -- Bono, the lead singer for rock group U2, Thursday urged EU leaders to honor a recent pledge to double aid to developing countries by 2015.
EU development ministers last month agreed to increase aid to poor countries from $56 billion a year to $110 billion a year within a decade. But the agreement still has to be inked by European leaders at a meeting in Brussels next week.
"It is a long way from politicians casting a check to them cashing it," said the Irish rock star after a meeting with European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
Bono said his message to EU leaders ahead of the June 16-17 summit was, "Don't blow it -- this kind of momentum doesn't come every year."
Alluding to the double rejection of the EU constitution by French and Dutch voters, Barroso added, "The fact that we have problems here in Europe now is not a reason to let Africa disappear from the map."
