WFP’s Skau warns EU aid cuts could erode international influence
A budget compromise presented by the Irish Council presidency proposes cutting €38 billion from Global Europe, leaving €177 billion.
Europe could lose diplomatic leverage if it reduces international aid, Carl Skau, acting chief of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), has warned. His intervention comes amid negotiations over funding for the EU’s next seven-year budget.
Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, has presented a compromise that would reduce the proposed Global Europe budget by roughly 17 per cent. The funding covers development and external assistance.
Skau argued that dependable support from the European Commission had strengthened Europe’s standing while other donors were cutting back. He urged the EU to retain its ambitious aid plans, describing humanitarian spending as small alongside defence budgets. The EU has helped shape the WFP’s 2026-2029 Strategic Plan, including its priorities on protecting vulnerable people, gender equality and climate action.
The WFP’s records show a 40 per cent decline in worldwide funding over the past two years. US contributions, the agency’s largest source of funding, fell by half in 2025 under President Donald Trump compared with the previous year. Funding from Germany, France and the United Kingdom also declined.
Meanwhile, the WFP estimates that acute food insecurity could affect as many as 363 million people in 2026, nearly 90 per cent above the 2021 level. Skau said the funding shortfall was forcing the agency to stop supporting women and children in South Sudan, Afghanistan and Somalia, with potentially fatal consequences.
