ISTANBUL

Nearly 190 French non-governmental organizations issued a warning on Wednesday following the government's decision to cut €700 million from the country’s official development assistance budget, in what they describe as a “historic” reduction that could jeopardize humanitarian efforts worldwide.

The cut, announced by French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on July 15, represents approximately 5% of France’s total development aid envelope and forms part of a wider €43.8 billion savings plan aimed at reducing the country’s public deficit by 2026, France 24 reported.

“This is unprecedented,” said Corentin Martiniault, an advocacy officer at Coordination Sud, an umbrella group representing 188 humanitarian NGOs, including Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) and Handicap International.

“The government's budgetary choices could endanger vulnerable populations around the world,” Coordination Sud warned, stressing that French aid plays a vital role in providing access to essential services such as health care, clean water, food, and protection for people in fragile contexts.

France ranked fifth globally in development aid contributions in 2024, behind the US, Germany, the UK, and Japan, according to OECD data.

But Martiniault noted that if the current cuts are upheld, “we’d be rolling back 10 years of progress.”

Since 2024, France’s Official Development Assistance has faced successive reductions, including a €724-million cut in February and the cancellation of an additional €200 million in April.

NGOs accuse the government of contradicting its stated commitments to international solidarity.

Flore Ganon, an advocacy officer at Action Against Hunger, said her organization has already experienced a 20% funding cut for its Confluences Project, which tackles child malnutrition in six African countries.

“In some countries, our capacity to intervene will be drastically reduced,” she said, adding that the organization was also hit by the abrupt suspension of USAID funding under President Donald Trump.

Ganon described the combined effect of European and American funding withdrawals as “catastrophic,” especially at a time when global hunger is rising, with 733 million people affected in 2023, according to the UN.

NGOs have urged the government to reinstate development funding mechanisms, including the reallocation of revenue from airline ticket and financial transaction taxes, which were diverted to the general budget in 2025.