France has set up a commission to assess the impact and transparency of its development aid, following allegations by the far right that taxpayers' money is being squandered overseas – echoing similar claims by the United States administration, which has frozen its foreign aid programmes.
France’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget was cut by 35 percent in the recently approved spending bill, following pressure from the country's conservative-dominated Senate. The ODA budget for 2025 now stands at €3.8 billion.
The French minister of foreign affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced last week the creation of a commission to evaluate ODA, highlighting the need for transparency and accountability.
"We will assess projects on a case by case basis to ensure that what we are doing serves either the direct or indirect interests of French people," he said in an interview with French TV channel CNews.
'Billions squandered'
The foreign minister was responding to criticism over the effectiveness of ODA, with the far right leading the charge.
A recent edition of the right-wing newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) bore the headline: "Scandal: billions squandered on aid to foreign countries". The paper went on to describe ODA as "obscure," "absurd" and "obsessed with gender issues".
Guillaume Bigot – an MP with the far-right National Rally (RN) and author of a parliamentary report on ODA – called for a moratorium on development aid, which he deemed "unaccountable," "costly" and "ineffective". He also questioned the rationale in directing funds abroad when France is struggling with a record deficit.
"In the beginning [ODA] was aimed at our former colonies and the poorest countries. It is now tinged with globalist ideology," he told the JDD. "We are helping the development of the private sector, countries with which we have few links or that don't need the aid – even hostile countries."
He denounced an increase in contributions to multilateral organisations, such as the Green Climate Fund – set up in 2010 to help developing economies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change – and the Global Fund, which invests in the fight against HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
Bigot said funding to such multilateral aid agencies accounted for 43 percent of France's global aid package – €25 billion since 2017.
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On Wednesday,United States President Donald Trump announced the US was terminating 90 percent of its foreign assistance grants and awards, administered by USAID – cuts amounting to $60 billion.
The US State Department said the move followed a review of foreign aid "to ensure taxpayer dollars were used to make America stronger, safer, and more prosperous".
Pierre Moscovici, head of France's Court of Auditors, sees echoes of this US rhetoric in the criticism of France's ODA. "A bit of Trumpism, a lot of xenophobia. Our ODA must of course be evaluated, which it is, but not in ignorance and bad faith" he wrote in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Moscovici, a former European commissioner for economic and financial affairs, argued foreign aid was "an asset for our influence and our economic presence in the world".
AFD in the firing line
The far right in France has also heavily criticised the French Development Agency (AFD), the government body which implements France's development policies – a public financial institution that funds projects linked to climate, peace, education, health, the majority overseas.
Earlier this month, Sarah Knafo, an MEP with the far-right Reconquest! party founded by former presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, accused the AFD of "wasting" taxpayers' money.
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"We're helping the largest economic power in the world to develop... whereas at home we're short of everything," she said, claiming France "gives" China €130 million a year. She also criticised projects in Jordan, Algeria and the Gaza Strip, saying the AFD "takes money from French people's pockets to send it around the world".
The AFD disposes of an annual budget of €12 billion, but 85 percent of its resources come from bond loans via private investors, capitals, international pension funds or central banks, its website states. The remaining 15 percent comes from grants from public institutions, such as the French State or the European Union. Taxpayers' annual contributions amount to €1.7 billion, the AFD told France Info.
'Not one euro 'given' to China'
The agency denies it has "given" €130 million of French taxpayers' money to China.
"Not one euro of public money is given to China," it posted on X. "AFD lends on market terms and in full transparency. And in line with the mandate given by parliament, it only invests in climate and biodiversity projects in China."
It highlighted how French expertise – for example from the state electricity company EDF – was used to develop low-carbon heating networks, as well as the creation of French-Chinese partnerships to exchange knowledge about conservation and ecotourism in national parks, such as China's Xianju Park and the Parc des Ballons in eastern France.
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"One tonne of CO2 saved in China means a tonne of CO2 saved for the whole planet, and all this without any impact on French taxpayers," the AFD said.
Over the last two decades, the agency has invested €2 billion in 50 projects in China, its director Rémy Rioux told RFI – including reconstruction efforts in Sichuan province following the 2008 earthquake, and the Sponge City project in the city of Mianyang to improve urban land management to prevent flooding.
The AFD's approach encourages "sustainable and solidarity-based investment rather than providing aid", Rioux said, citing how the "French model for national parks inspired new legislation in China, while Chinese initiatives have offered valuable insights for similar efforts in France".
