Assita Kanko: “Climate reparation payments open the door to paying for everything in the near future”

As part of the international climate conference in Egypt, developing countries are asking for “climate reparations” from the West. MEP Assita Kanko is “absolutely against it”, as she said in the TV programme De Afspraak. “This will set the door ajar to paying in the near future for everything from the past. China can continue to pollute while we bully away our companies here.”

“We must be concerned about the climate and look for solutions together, but I am absolutely against the idea of reparations. In that way you set the door ajar to having the West pay for all other problems. Meanwhile, China can continue to pollute freely and not participate in important climate meetings, while we in Europe are bullying away our companies, and our citizens are struggling as well.”

Money is never free

On the principle of development cooperation, Kanko says she is not a big fan of the current system. “Money is never free. We cripple those countries and fuel a system of corruption in which we pamper government leaders and urge them to do nothing themselves. Sixty years of development cooperation has already demonstrated this. You only convince the people there of the fact that they need the West and can’t do anything themselves.