Development – Presentation by Jean-Yves Le Drian of the planning bill on solidarity-based development and the fight against global inequality at the National Assembly (17 February 2021)

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At a public session today at the National Assembly, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian will present the planning bill on solidarity-based development and the fight against global inequality.

This bill gives France the means to more effectively combat global inequality and protect global public goods. It promotes a model of solidarity-based, humanistic, progressive development, and reflects the value we place on collective action and multilateralism. It also confirms that development is one of France’s key foreign policy pillars.

This text enshrines the President’s commitment to bring our official development assistance to 0.55% of our national wealth in 2022.

It introduces a new method to enable our country to do better and better in terms of development:

  • our resources will be focused on global challenges that affect us all: health, the climate and biodiversity, education, equality between men and women, stabilizing crisis zones;
  • France will focus its attention on 19 countries, including 18 in Africa, in order to avoid spreading resources too thinly and to make a difference to the countries in the greatest need;
  • monitoring and transparency will be strengthened through the establishment of an independent evaluation commission in order to assess the real impact of this policy;
  • in the face of challenges affecting both the North and the South, it promotes a partnership model based on the principles of equality, accountability and shared interests with beneficiary countries.

This bill was developed in close consultation with all development stakeholders (elected officials, operators, representatives of civil society, NGOs, unions, companies, universities and research centers), notably consulted within the framework of several sessions of the National Council for Development and International Solidarity.