The NGOs commended Luxembourg’s intention to continue allocating 1% of its GNI to ODA while maintaining the principle of additionality to ODA for climate funds and refugee resettlement costs. At the same time, the Circle warned that the government’s proposed 2% increase in the defence budget must not come at the expense of the amount or quality of the budget allocated to cooperation.

While the continued support for NGOs operating in the Sahel (following the announcement of the non-renewal of bilateral cooperation with Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso) has been a relief to them, they are nonetheless concerned about the maintenance of this support and Luxembourg’s potential future strategy in the region.

Questions were also raised regarding the criteria and procedures for identifying new partner countries for cooperation following Luxembourg’s disengagement from the Sahel, particularly concerning the protection of human rights. The current developments in the reform of the co-financing of awareness-raising and development education activities for NGOs by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were presented and received with great interest by the members of parliament.

Other topics were also raised: strengthening humanitarian law, protecting civic space for NGOs in Europe, and the role of new technologies in international cooperation.

Many questions demonstrated the keen interest of the members of parliament in international cooperation and humanitarian action and allowed NGOs to elaborate further on the challenges presented to the Committee.

The meeting report is available on the Chamber of Deputies website: https://www.chd.lu/fr/cercle-coopération-ONG-développement-2025