EU’s ‘trust’ and ‘leverage’ at stake over development cuts, UN food aid boss warns

Slashing the EU's humanitarian aid budget risks wrecking the bloc’s dominance and influence in international discussions, warned the head of the world's largest food aid organization. As Europe's leaders clash over just how much they're prepared to fund the EU and its programs in the next seven-year budget, initial funding plans for global development have already been cut. The latest compromise position presented by the Irish rotating presidency of the Council of the EU would carve €38 billion out of the Global Europe envelope — which funds development and external aid — shrinking it by roughly 17% to €177 billion. The European Commission “has remained a predictable donor when others have cut,” Carl Skau, acting chief of the U.N.