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Parliamentarians’ declaration for responsible sovereign lending

30 March 2007

Parliamentarians’ declaration for responsible sovereign lending

At the recent annual conference of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB) a "Parliamentarian's Declaration for Shared Responsibility in Sovereign Lending" was launched. It already has 100 signatories from 27 countries.The declaration was initially co-sponsored by Monica Frassoni (MEP), Co-president of the Greens/European Free Alliance Group, Italy, Khalifa Sall MP, Socialist Party, Senegal and Senator Aquilino Pimentel of the Philippines.

The text of the declaration underscores parliamentarian’s support for greater responsibility in the loan contraction process. It urges creditors to follow the Norwegian example and contains a commitment to initiate and support more research around the illegitimate debt issue as well as parliamentary audit processes in their respective countries.

The aim of the declaration is to build a solid base of political support for these ideas from important non-civil society actors. In particular, it aims to encourage MPs to stimulate national debate on these issues, pose parliamentary questions, support research and initiate audit or investigations into debt at national levels. This will help break the wall of silence surrounding illegitimate debt.

A new website has been created which contains further details of the initiative - including the declaration in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German languages - see: www.debtdeclaration.org. The website also contains the full list of signatures to-date.

Organisations and social movements are encouraged to become involved in this initiative and to encourage local elected representatives to sign-on to the statement and take action. There are a number of regional focal points for the African, Latin American, North American, Asian and European regions who will be coordinating signatures and providing more information. They are detailed in the declaration.

The declaration text, and more information in multiple languages - English, French, Spanish, Italian and German - are at:
www.debtdeclaration.org / europe@debtdeclaration.org. 

Parliamentarians’ declaration for responsible sovereign lending : Kb