European Union-Madagascar: a funding worth 577million Euros at stake

The Malagasy Prime Minister, Omer Beriziky, is to present three crucial messages to the European Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, during their meeting in Brussels on July 2. According to the “Lettre de l’Océan Indien”, diplomats at the Malagasy Embassy in Brussels recommended the Prime Minister to concise into three main points the messages that the latter will transmit to the European Union.

The first message that Omer Beriziky should address during his meeting with Andris Pieblags, the European Commissioner for Development, is the goodwill of the Malagasy authorities to implement the SADC-endorsed roadmap, the only way towards the resolution of the crisis.

Then, the Prime Minister should enumerate some evidence of the importance of the international community in the development process of Madagascar. To be more precise, Omer Beriziky should try to convince international community, including the World Bank which plans to grant funds amounting to US$ 40 million, to think about resuming their financial assistance to Madagascar. In the message, the Prime Minister should highlight the crucial role that the E.U plays in the development process of Madagascar.

Finally, the Prime Minister should talk about the high expectations of the Malagasy government concerning the U.E aids. It should result in the release of the 577 million Euro-funds, suspended in June 2010, by the end of 2013. But in order to make it happen, the Prime Minister should really advance highly convincing arguments because so far, the European Commission has already planned to take 302 million Euros from the above stated funds to be expended on other projects.