Tony Blair: “If inequality is the problem, governance is the answer”

Former British PM and A-list speakers gather for 10th anniversary of European Commission-UNDP lecture series

June 18, 2019

Brussels - The international community needs to place much more emphasis on supporting able leadership and government around the world, said Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister and founder of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

“Poverty is a problem with a solution. Inequality can be eliminated and the way to do that is through good governance," he said, adding that “real change happens when nations are strong enough to stand on their feet and take destiny into their own hands.”

Blair pointed out that leaders need effective office structures that can tackle multiple problems - from poor infrastructure to access to technology - complemented by carefully coordinated support and pooled financing from the international community. 

“The consequence of inadequate coordination is crisis. Deterioration can have a devastating impact for those countries and us in Europe.”

Tony Blair was speaking at the tenth anniversary of the Kapuscinski Lectures, a joint initiative of the European Commission and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that has organized 100 lectures for 30,000 participants over the last ten years. 

The lecture was followed by a discussion with Luis-Felipe López Calva, Regional Director of UNDP for Latin America and the Caribbean, Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, Santiago Levy, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and Jos Verbeek, World Bank Manager and Special Representative to the UN and WTO.

When measured in terms of income differences, inequalities have been decreasing slightly, even though the perception around the world is that they are in fact rising, said Luis-Felipe López Calva.

However, inequality has multiple dimensions beyond income and there is a genuine concern among the international development community that certain groups in many countries have more bargaining power, resulting in a “deterioration of democracy and fragmentation of the social contract”, he specified.

Oxfam now has a “Commitment to Reduce Inequality” Index that measures progressive taxation, progressive social spending and labor rights, said Winnie Byanyima. She also pointed out that 26 billionaires own as much as the bottom half of humanity and exert disproportionate influence over decisions.