Brussels, 01/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - Clearly stung by a BBC article entitled “EU aid to Africa badly spent, British inquiry hears” - implying that a British inquiry had been set up on the bad management of aid by the European Commission in the domain of water and sanitation in Africa - the Commission spoke out in defence on Friday 28 June. In his blog, European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs said that the parliamentary debate in the United Kingdom was based on a Court of Auditors report published on 28 September 2012 (special report no 13/2012), which was the result of an audit on 23 projects for access to drinking water and sanitation implemented in six countries to measure the effectiveness of EU action (see EUROPE 10700).
The Court of Auditors concluded the EU's support had enabled improved access to drinking water and basic sanitation services, but that the sustainability of these projects needed to be improved because, although they were technically sustainable, their medium- to long-term benefits were questionable due to the lack of financial viability and insufficient institutional capacity.
“The report itself acknowledges that EU support 'has made a valuable contribution to meeting important development objectives' (…). The EU has provided nearly €2 billion to water and sanitation projects in 62 countries worldwide. Thanks to EU financial support, from 2004 to 2012 more than 67 million persons in developing countries have gained access to drinking water and more than 23 billion people gained access to improved sanitation facilities”, Piebalgs states on his blog. (AN/transl.fl)