Early Day Motion 138

November 26, 2003

At the new session of the UK Parliament this week, Labour MP Barry Gardiner tabled an Early Day Motion on Iraqi debt. The text for the motion reads: “This House . . . concludes that Iraq’s debt is unsustainable; [and] further welcomes and supports Jubilee Iraq’s proposals for debt cancellation.”

At the new session of the UK Parliament this week, Labour MP Barry Gardiner tabled an Early Day Motion on Iraqi debt.

The text for the Early Day Motion reads: “This House notes that the
creditor countries of the Paris Club estimate that Iraq’s sovereign
debt amounts to more than US$21 thousand million and, mindful that IMF
rules regard debt of twice annual export income as unsustainable for
HIPC countries, whereas Iraq’s debt represents 10 times that country’s
projected export income for 2004, concludes that Iraq’s debt is
unsustainable; further welcomes and supports Jubilee Iraq’s proposals
for debt cancellation; applauds Her Majesty’s Government and the US
Government’s support for the more generous Evian approach to debt
forgiveness; and urges the four largest of the 19 Paris Club creditor
countries, namely France, Germany, Japan and Russia, who between them
lay claim to US$13 thousand million of the debts lent to support Saddam
Hussein, to remember the benefit they received under the United States
Marshall Plan and to be equally generous in their approach to debt
cancellation in Iraq.”

An Early Day Motion, or EDM, is the term used to describe notices of
motions given by members of the UK House of Commons that are not
generally expected to be debated. The tabling of an EDM is a device to
draw attention to an issue, and to elicit support for it by the means
of inviting other members to add their signatures to the motion.