The European Commission has marked International Poverty Eradication Day with co-sponsored parliamentary debates on the Millennium Development Goals and a new survey on citizens' attitudes to development aid in the new Member States.

The European Commission is committed to poverty eradication as one of the main development challenges of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's). The series of parliamentary debates aims to raise public awareness on the importance of the MDGs and development policy in general. Discussions by national parliamentarians, MEPs, NGOs and the UNDP will focus on their contribution on building global partnerships for development.

The debates are taking place in the capitals of the new Member States - the EU12 - from 15th to 22nd October 2007, starting in the Czech Republic.
These debates coincide with the release of a Eurobarometer survey to assess public perceptions of development aid. Over 11,000 citizens were interviewed face to face during June 2007 in the 12 Member States which most recently joined the EU.

Results show that people appear to make a positive link between joining the EU and giving assistance to developing countries. The majority of citizens correctly identify the EU as the biggest aid donor and poverty reduction as the main development objective. The EU is seen as a better channel than individual Member States when it comes to aid delivery.

Despite this perception, EU-12 citizens have a relatively low level of awareness of EU development policy and the MDGs. More than two-thirds of respondents indicated that they had not seen or heard any publicity or campaign relating to European Union development aid for poor countries outside the EU. The survey shows once again the need for more information about EU development aid.

More information can be found at the following web-sites:

Eurobarometer : http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm

DG Development: http://ec.europa.eu/development/index_en.cfm

European Development Days: http://www.eudevdays.eu

EU-12-UNDP: http://europeandcis.undp.org/mdgdebates