Following a four-day mission to the United Nations in New York, the S&D delegation, led by the coordinator in the European Parliament’s development committee, Udo Bullmann, alongside MEPs Evin Incir and Karsten Lucke, reports the need for the EU to use the momentum of these dramatic times to finally become a global player. A new approach that should lead the European Commission and EU leaders to move up a gear on implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) throughout all EU policies and through improved international partnerships. This is the way forward to fight poverty and instability, and to fill the growing gap between the global north and the global south.
The S&D head of the delegation and development committee coordinator, Udo Bullman MEP, said:
“There is an urgent call for Europe to finally become a global player capable of working towards a new multilateralism with the so-called ‘global south’, based on trust and equal partnership. We now have the opportunity to use the momentum of the current international crises to change our role in the world, starting with implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Climate change, food, energy and health security, debt relief, human rights, sustainable development are only some of the most urgent challenges where the EU can make a real difference.
“With the European Green Deal and the transition from fossil fuels, the EU has shown its potential. However there are other urgent issues where we must do more to responsibly support the global south toward sustainable development and we need to be bolder.
“Reducing inequalities must be our pole star. We must invest in development and in solid institutional governance as a precondition for security and peace, as well as putting the focus on gender equality, empowering women and education, especially for children and young people in vulnerable situations.
“We should also learn from our mistakes. Health is a fundamental right and the limited access to Covid vaccines in the global south was a disaster that cannot happen again. Developing countries need support to strengthen their public health systems and their own vaccine production capacity.
“The SDGs should be our priorities, till 2030 and beyond, to reduce global inequalities. A real global Europe can make this possible.”
The foreign affairs committee’s standing rapporteur for Palestine, Evin Incir MEP, added:
“Peace, gender equality, respect for human rights and global cooperation are some of the most important Sustainable Development Goals the EU must implement and support worldwide. Despite all the efforts of the international community and UN, gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence against women and children have dramatically increased in the last decades. We have daily reports of rape and violence against the most vulnerable being used as a weapon of war in Ukraine. But this is sadly also the case in many other past and present conflicts, in Africa and elsewhere.
“Gender-based violence is a war crime. We need to invest more in prevention and education, end impunity for perpetrators and make sure victims receive the medical, legal and psychological support they need.
“We won’t be silent. We won’t stop our fight until human rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality are a reality everywhere and for everyone.”
S&D MEP Karsten Lucke, a member of the special committee on the Covid-19 pandemic, commented:
“When international law is violated, we must remember that the United Nations is a global public good to be defended and strengthened. Multilateralism, based on trust and equal partnership, must prevail over conflict and violence.
“Listening to our partners in the global south is crucial to achieve a joint step forward for a better future. If united and truly committed to the SDGs, the EU will finally be a reliable global actor capable of balancing other players at UN level such as China, Russia or the US.”
