Politics
DF youth wing wants to scrap development aid
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September 16th, 2013
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This article is more than 11 years old.
Development aid keeps food prices low and encourages population growth in the developing world according to the youth wing of the anti-immigration party Dansk Folkeparti
Dansk Folkeparti’s youth party has blamed Western development aid for fuelling the rapidly expanding populations in developing countries.
At DF’s annual party conference this weekend, Anders Vistisen, the head of the youth party, argued that Denmark should not give any foreign aid whatsoever.
Vistisen argued that the money Denmark currently spends on foreign aid should instead be distributed between Danes – amounting to around 2,500 kroner each – and a 5,000 kroner tax deduction should be introduced for donations to charities.
Artificially low food prices
At the conference, Vistisen argued that development aid keeps food prices in countries such as Egypt artificially low.
This enables families to feed more children than they could afford if food prices were instead governed by market forces.
“In other words it means that it is we in the West who have made the population explosion in Egypt possible,” Vistisen told the conference.
Less aid, more free trade
Speaking to Politiken newspaper, Vistisen explained that more expensive food could encourage parents to have fewer children.
“I think development aid does more harm than good,” he said. “It keeps countries in unfortunate cycles so we want to give them the opportunity for greater levels of free trade, which is the way forward for developing economies.”
DF leader Christian Thulesen Dahl said the party had no plans to heed Vistisen’s advice, though DF does support lowering development aid from the current 0.83 percent of GDP to 0.7 percent of GDP as recommended by the UN.
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