EU Aid Takes Four Years to Reach Target
August 7, 2000 - 0:0
LONDON Aid from the European Union (EU) takes four years and two months on average to reach victims of disasters, the Sunday Telegraph said.
The newspaper said a report by members of the British Parliament would show that almost two years after hurricane Mitch ravaged Central America, killing an estimated 9,000 people, the EU has yet to deliver any of the 170 million pounds ($255.7 million) of aid it had promised.
The report by the House of Commons Select Committee on International Development, to be made public this week, would accuse European Commissioners of "gesture" politics and blame mismanagement and bureaucracy at the European Commission for the delays, the newspaper said.
The report also says that EU aid programs to the Third World favor countries close to the union, the Telegraph added.
The EU's explanation that it aided these countries because instability could threaten Europe was not plausible since problems in other countries could also have an impact, the report said.
The report calls for a reform of the aid program and management and asks for one body answerable to one senior commissioner to oversee aid.
A spokesman for external relations at the European Commission said that aid would start arriving in Central America by October.
"The first tranche about 57 million pounds will be there by October. This has been no bigger delay than normal.
It takes time to go through all the various hoops in Brussels," the spokesman said in the Telegraph.
A member of the cabinet of EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong, said it was true that the average delay was four years.
"Mr Patten is the first to say that this is too long a period," the cabinet member said in the paper, adding that member states were to blame because they decide on aid projects but do not deliver the resources needed to fulfill them.
The Telegraph said that every year Britain takes back 100 million pounds from the EU which the European Commission has been unable to spend despite the needs of the developing world.
(Reuter)
The newspaper said a report by members of the British Parliament would show that almost two years after hurricane Mitch ravaged Central America, killing an estimated 9,000 people, the EU has yet to deliver any of the 170 million pounds ($255.7 million) of aid it had promised.
The report by the House of Commons Select Committee on International Development, to be made public this week, would accuse European Commissioners of "gesture" politics and blame mismanagement and bureaucracy at the European Commission for the delays, the newspaper said.
The report also says that EU aid programs to the Third World favor countries close to the union, the Telegraph added.
The EU's explanation that it aided these countries because instability could threaten Europe was not plausible since problems in other countries could also have an impact, the report said.
The report calls for a reform of the aid program and management and asks for one body answerable to one senior commissioner to oversee aid.
A spokesman for external relations at the European Commission said that aid would start arriving in Central America by October.
"The first tranche about 57 million pounds will be there by October. This has been no bigger delay than normal.
It takes time to go through all the various hoops in Brussels," the spokesman said in the Telegraph.
A member of the cabinet of EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong, said it was true that the average delay was four years.
"Mr Patten is the first to say that this is too long a period," the cabinet member said in the paper, adding that member states were to blame because they decide on aid projects but do not deliver the resources needed to fulfill them.
The Telegraph said that every year Britain takes back 100 million pounds from the EU which the European Commission has been unable to spend despite the needs of the developing world.
(Reuter)