Europe entering age of 'aid austerity'

The effects of the financial crisis in the EU has resulted in many of the Union's richest member states sharply cutting back aid to developing countries.

Figures released Wednesday (4 April) by the OECD, a Paris-based thinktank, show that debt-ridden Greece - the recipient of two international bailouts - slashed its foreign aid by 39.3 percent in 2011.

Spain, now in the midst of an unpredicted recession and under EU pressure to sharply reduce its budget deficit, made a 32.7 percen...