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signal before G8: Federal government announces substantial increase in aid to

expected, the Federal Government has announced in advance of the G8 summit, a clear increase its development assistance. As (almost) all the newspapers report today, the evolution of help now to be increased each year until 2011 to € 750 million, so the promise of 2005 to meet the German ODA quota, currently at 0.36% is to increase to 0.51%. To finance the government wants to use part of the so-called innovative financial instruments, such as Chancellor Merkel brings into the discussion auctioning of CO2 emission rights. From the latter to be expected at 350 million €.

With that of Chancellor Angela Merkel over image and Development Minister Wieczorek-Zeul to the Süddeutsche Zeitung made announcement for the first time a long series of similar announcements general is elaborated numerically. Thus, it is the first substantial announcement since the summit in Gleneagles in 2005 after it had last looked as if the federal government far short of their promises. With the significant quantitative increase in development aid comes now, however, the required qualitative improvement and reform of the aid significantly in the foreground.

Praiseworthy is the German project, so little is certain or even probable, however, that the expected signal effect occurs and other G8 partners to be inspired in the Heiligendamm summit to similar announcements. Only could the theory of "broken promises of the G8" ( >>> W & D background June 2007) really punish this point lies. It is also clear that the new German ODA initiative is not relative to other criticisms of the German G8 policy, especially the content in nature: the lack of willingness to reform, which concerns the summit architecture itself, the overemphasis on the role of the private sector in Africa policy, the disproportionate concentration of innovation and investment protection policy to the interests of the North and the general characteristic style of the G8, to preach to others much to turn but little in his own front door. have a critical analysis of the German G8 policy from this perspective, Rainer Falk and Barbara recently written Unmüßig. It appeared to the G8 summit as W & D Extra (see illustration).