The latest meeting of aid donors in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris marked the latest battle between countries wanting Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to include the cost of migration controls against those who want to target funds on economic development.

In the manifesto ahead of its ill-fated June election, the UK’s governing Conservative party vowed to pull out of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of wealthy countries unless other donors agreed to increase the amount of private equity and military spending that could be counted as aid.

That pledge was quietly dropped ahead of the Paris aid meetings, but the UK is not the only EU donor wanting to get creative with the aid budget. Belgium, France and Portugal are among a group seeking to increase the amount of military and security costs that count as aid.

Read the full article about foreign development aid at euractiv.com.