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Questioning Dutch Contribution to the World Bank
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Yesterday, April 9th, A SEED Europe held a colourful public action in front the Parliament's building in Den Haag to submit a petition calling for revision of the Dutch contribution to the World Bank. The document, undersigned by more than fifty Dutch organizations was handed in to the representatives of the Finance and Foreign Affairs Commissions in the Parliament and to the Dutch minister of Development Mr. Koenders.
The petition was part of the discussion that was subsequently held between Mr. Koenders and parliamentarians of the Socialist Party (SP) and GroenLinks. The SP put forward the proposition that World Bank refrains from forcing liberalization and privatization onto poor countries, while the GroenLinks demanded that no money is given to the World Bank as long as the Bank finances fossil fuels. The minister rejected the last demand, but accepted the proposal of the SP.
Outside, under the beats of the Rhythms of Resistance Amsterdam samba band, activists illustrated to the Dutch decision-makers how the World Bank relates to the poorest countries. Passers-by and parliament visitors received 500 euro loans, under the condition of adopting tight fiscal restraints on their food expenditures for the coming months**. The borrowers could repay the loans with resources made available by allowing companies to drill for oil in their garden.
On the questions, put by A SEED to the Dutch development minister, Koenders responded that he would not support phasing out of funding for fossil fuels by the World Bank, as demanded in the petition, while he would like to see an increase in the funding for renewables. While he correctly pointed out that rich countries should be the ones undertaking actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions, Mr Koenders ignored the fact that the oil extraction projects in the South are designed to feed the industrialized countries with more energy, benefiting corporations disproportionally more than the poor countries and speeding up climate change.
Unfortunately, in today's session the Christian democrats and Liberals blocked the proposal that the Netherlands demands a phase out of privatization and liberalization conditionalities by the World Bank. Nor was the proposal for a phase out of fossil fuel funding supported.
Still, the support which the problem of economic conditionalities received on the side of the SP (socialist party), GroenLinks (Greenleft) and the Dutch minister, who promised to address the issue during the Spring-meeting of the World Bank is a highly positive development.
Notes: **Adopting tight fiscal restraints on their food expenditures=Starving them, or significantly decreasing their expenditures on food
Press release A SEED Europe – April 7th, The Hague
A Large Coalition Demands a Critical Revision of the Dutch Contribution to the World Bank
On April 9th A SEED Europe will deliver a petition, calling for a critical revision of the Dutch financial contribution to the World Bank, to the Minister Koenders and two Dutch parliamentarian commissions [1]. The petition was undersigned by more than fifty Dutch non- governmental organizations. The submission will be adjoined by a public action in front of the parliament's building [2]. On April 9th the parliamentarian commissions on Finance and Foreign Affairs will discuss the last and largest contribution of the Netherlands to the International Development Association (IDA), part of the World Bank.
The Dutch government aims at contributing a total of € 698 millions over the next three years [3]. This is a substantial part of the yearly budget of the Netherlands, dedicated to international development. The signatories of the petition ask for a cancellation of the Dutch financial contribution to the World Bank as long as the latter pushes economic reforms through lending and provides funding for fossil fuel projects in the South.[4]
“The World Bank, including IDA, enforces economic reforms in sensitive areas (such as quick privatization of public services) and leaves countries with too little space for autonomous decision making”, says Rob Bleijerveld from ASEED Europe. “There is ample evidence that the limited set of economic conditions the Bank has been suggesting to poor countries do not result in the reduction of poverty there”, adds Bleijerveld.
“Although the World Bank boasts with a whole series of Climate Funds, it continues injecting large amount of funds in fossil fuel projects”, says Janneke Bruil of Friends of the Earth International, “That has not lead to improving the energy supply for the poor. As an illustration up to 80 % of the 5 billion dollars that the World Bank has provided for energy projects since 1992, was used for enhancing consumption in the North .”
“They simply do not seem to be willing to take the critiques into account. It is therefore crucial that donor countries, such as the Netherlands, take a more critical position on the issues and prepare to threaten with funds withdrawal unless the WB lessens the level of its economic influence on Southern governments” explains Bleijerveld. “The Norwegian government has already taken steps in that direction”.
Notes for editors
[1] The petition will be delivered to the members of the permanent commissions for Finance and foreign Affairs at 9:30 h. and to minister Koenders at 9:45 h.
[2] The symbolic action is a street performance that describes the negative effects of the World Bank policy for the poor and the environment in developing countries.
[3] The period will range between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2011.
[4] Referring to reports from the Norwegian government and the European Network on Debt and Development the signatories of the petition declare the proposed contribution to the IDA to be ineffective or even counterproductive. See the report "Untying the knots - How the World Bank is failing to deliver real change on conditionality" by Eurodad, and the summary of the "Analysis of the reports - Conditionality in Development Policy Lending (World Bank, 2007) and Untying the knots: How the Word Bank is falling to deliver real change on conditionality (Eurodad 2007)" by Benedicte Bull, Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, Nov. 2007.
Last Updated ( Friday, 13 June 2008 )
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Yesterday, April 9th, A SEED Europe held a colourful public action in front the Parliament's building in Den Haag to submit a petition calling for revision of the Dutch contribution to the World Bank. The document, undersigned by more than fifty Dutch organizations was handed in to the representatives of the Finance and Foreign Affairs Commissions in the Parliament and to the Dutch minister of Development Mr. Koenders.
The petition was part of the discussion that was subsequently held between Mr. Koenders and parliamentarians of the Socialist Party (SP) and GroenLinks. The SP put forward the proposition that World Bank refrains from forcing liberalization and privatization onto poor countries, while the GroenLinks demanded that no money is given to the World Bank as long as the Bank finances fossil fuels. The minister rejected the last demand, but accepted the proposal of the SP. 
On the questions, put by A SEED to the Dutch development minister, Koenders responded that he would not support phasing out of funding for fossil fuels by the World Bank, as demanded in the petition, while he would like to see an increase in the funding for renewables. While he correctly pointed out that rich countries should be the ones undertaking actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions, Mr Koenders ignored the fact that the oil extraction projects in the South are designed to feed the industrialized countries with more energy, benefiting corporations disproportionally more than the poor countries and speeding up climate change. 
Unfortunately, in today's session the Christian democrats and Liberals blocked the proposal that the Netherlands demands a phase out of privatization and liberalization conditionalities by the World Bank. Nor was the proposal for a phase out of fossil fuel funding supported.