European Union states should offer more aid to the world's poorest states to meet a promise to help reduce global poverty, the European Commission will announce tomorrow.
The EU executive will also call on the 25-nation bloc, which is already the world's largest donor, to focus more on extreme poverty in Africa.
European aid groups have accused some of the EU's richest states of being misers when it comes to helping the world's poorest countries and meeting UN targets to reduce global poverty by 2015.
Under proposals to be approved tomorrow, EU states should spend at least 0.51 per cent of their gross national income (GNI) on aid by 2010, an interim target to ensure they meet a promise of 0.7 per cent by 2015, an EU official said today.
"Tomorrow the point is to set a new target for 2010 with a view to reaching the 0.7 per cent goal in 2015. So it will be an interim goal," the official said.
Another official said the interim goal to be proposed by the Commission was likely to be 0.51 per cent as a minimum for the 15 "old" EU states and 0.17 per cent for the 10 poorer eastern European countries which joined the bloc in 2004.
Until now only four EU states have surpassed commitments made in 1970 by the world's richest countries to give 0.7 per cent of GNI as foreign aid - Denmark, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Sweden.
The officials said the Commission wanted EU states to pay particular attention to Africa and help the continent meet the UN goal of reducing poverty and child mortality.
Recalling Europe's colonial past, they said the EU had a "special responsibility" for helping African states and that any increase in aid spending should benefit the continent.