Fourth Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4): These are the demands on Germany and the EU
The Fourth International Conference on Finance and Development (FfD4) will begin in Seville at the end of June . Given the multiple crises facing the world, the challenges could hardly be greater. Only 17% of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals have been achieved, and many are at risk of not being met by 2030. Expectations for FfD4 are therefore high. A group of civil society organizations is calling on European delegates to advocate for a reform of the global financial architecture at FfD4. In an open letter, they call for the creation of a fair and transparent multilateral mechanism to resolve sovereign debt crises.
Development financing in times of crisis
Although many countries in the Global South are facing a debt crisis, an increasing number of countries in the Global North are providing less funding for development. Germany, too, plans to cut its development aid by a third by 2025 and will therefore most likely miss its target of spending 0.7% of its gross domestic product on development. Furthermore, many countries have imposed austerity measures due to their severe debt crises. Consequently, many states are cutting social spending. In this context, the pressure is mounting on Finance for Development (FfD4) to initiate significant reforms to the global financial architecture.
Civil society demands a leadership role from the EU and Germany
A group of nearly 40 civil society organizations, including the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) and WEED eV, criticizes the fact that many creditors – particularly the European Commission – are systematically blocking reforms. They argue that existing mechanisms, such as the G20 debt restructuring framework, the so-called Common Framework , are insufficient because they primarily safeguard the interests of creditors. To prevent another lost decade of global development, the organizations are calling for the FfD4 to officially launch an international debt convention. They emphasize that European states have a particular responsibility here: the Global North bears a historical responsibility, as many of today's debt problems stem from colonial and imperialist exploitation. A fairer and more sustainable debt framework would therefore be a necessary step to finally live up to this responsibility.
Erlassjahr.de has also written to Chancellor Merz and the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Alabali-Radovan. Together with seven other German partner organizations, erlassjahr.de calls on the German government to actively advocate for a fair and democratic international financial architecture. In the letter, the organizations also refer to another open appeal, which erlassjahr.de signed together with over 200 civil society organizations from 56 countries. This appeal is specifically addressed to European states and calls on them to stop blocking ambitious development goals and instead to constructively advance them.
FfD4 is crucial for achieving the sustainable development goals
Ten years after the Third Conference on Finance for Development (FfD3), many of the global Sustainable Development Goals remain unachieved. The Fourth Conference (FfD4) now offers a crucial opportunity to create a fairer global financial architecture. Europe – and Germany in particular – has a responsibility to embrace its historical legacy and drive forward concrete reforms. Only in this way can future debt crises be avoided and sustainable development achieved worldwide.