In a post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog, Elisa Baldini, an advocacy and campaigns officer with Plan E.U., examines the future of European Union aid, writing, “Last week, European Union leaders came together for a decisive summit to discuss how much they think the E.U. should spend from 2014-2020, and what they should spend the budget on.” She continues, “As a result of last week’s summit, Heading 4 (Global Europe) and the European Development Fund (EDF) have been cut by 16 percent and 11 percent respectively, compared with the European Commission’s original proposal,” adding, “What that means in real terms — that is, compared with the current situation for 2007-2013 — is that the level of development aid has been frozen” (2/13).