THE FATBOY SHOW : EU will struggle to fill gap left by USAID as European countries cut their budgets.

The dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has captured headlines, but "very regrettable" reductions in European aid budgets are also contributing to a void in support for some of the poorest people in the world's most fragile states, according to MEPs and NGOs.

Isabella Lövin, a deputy chair of the European parliament's development committee, said USAID cuts would have "very dramatic consequences around the world". But she also criticised recent decisions by EU member states to reduce their aid budgets as "very regrettable" and "wrong". It would be impossible for the EU to fill the gap, she added.

"If we're thinking about global security and stability then the EU and its member states need to invest in democracy, in poverty eradication, in supporting communities and citizens in developing countries. That is a way to prevent conflict and prevent involuntary migration and instability that we don't want to see," said Lövin, a former Swedish international development minister.