By using EU money to encourage private enterprise and economic growth within developing nations around the world, the EU is reducing poverty, creating future trading partners, and helping to support democratic stability and human rights in the process. The groundbreaking idea of using private enterprise to help reduce poverty around the world was an idea put forward by the ECR Group. This idea was taken up by the European Commission and as a consequence the EU created a fund which mobilises 44 billion Euros of investment starting in Africa and the EU’s Southern and Eastern neighbourhood.
The ECR Group is proud that we have pushed the European Commission to move away from short-term solutions and handouts, and instead move towards a system which helps countries and communities build long lasting stronger economies and industries. By using this fund to provide money for private enterprises in developing countries, we are helping grow innovation in developing nations, giving people their dignity back through work, and addressing the root causes of mass migration to the EU - poverty. For the first time in the history of the European Parliament, the private sector has been recognised as a crucial actor for development and wealth creation.
The ECR Group’s efforts to create a global facing EU, extends beyond just trading with nations across the world, but looks towards creating a more democratic, freer world for all. The ECR has placed the plight of persecuted Christians prominently on the EU foreign policy agenda. Around the world the persecution of Christians is on the rise. More than any other group, Christians are a target of religious violence. A long ignored situation by EU foreign policy, ECR Group members were among those who pressed for more action. The ECR Group will continue to fight for more action to help those who are persecuted for their faith.
Protecting freedom and human dignity are at the heart of the ECR’s foreign policy aims. The ECR Group continues to ensure that the human rights agenda of the European Parliament respects national interests as well as maximising the collective power of the EU as a whole when it comes to ensuring third countries fulfil their international obligations. The ECR Group has led the way on a number of widely supported resolutions and campaigns regarding the persecution of Christians and the Rohingya people. The ECR Group believes that the EU does not need a centralised foreign policy to bring attention to pressing international issues and have an impact upon human rights violations.