Brussels, 27/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - At a European Parliament debate in Brussels on Monday 25 January on the programming of development aid, many MEPs from the Parliament's development committee - chaired by Linda McAvan (S&D, UK) - expressed concern.
The reason for their concern is what they consider to be the European Commission's poor listening and its lack of transparency as regards the programming of European Development Fund (EDF) resources; the multiplication of trust funds which could hijack funds for other purposes and which are not sufficiently supported by the member states; and the number of ongoing projects in countries which do not always have the ability to absorb funds.
Many MEPs criticised the Commission for not paying much attention to the MEPs' objections, and they gave the example of Eritrea's national indicative programme which was approved although MEPs were opposed to it. “The Commission does not even acknowledge receipt of our documents and the EDF committee never says it has received our objections. But EDF programming is a very important tool for external relations”, said Doru-Claudian Frunzulica (S&D, Romania). “Confidentiality isn't needed for the objectives. For the EDF, I ask the Commission and the Council to consider whether it's right to keep the funds confidential”, said Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Finland). As regards the specific funds, Hautala says there should be “assurances that these won't be confiscated but that they will be used well, in conformity with the principles of the OECD”.
European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica tried to reassure the MEPs, giving them pledges of increased dialogue “within the limits of the interinstitutional arrangements”. He also asked the Commission staff and MEPs to pursue the common interest - that of an effective a cooperation as possible - in order to enable documents to be sent at the right time, to make the assessment procedure as effective as possible, and to manage documents being seen in the Parliament's working groups and in those of the Commission. “The Commission demonstrated it was ready to go right to the end of the limits set by our arrangements, as can be seen for example in the informal EDF assessment procedure”, he said.
“So when we want to tackle the root causes of illegal migration, can we be taken seriously if we can't manage to get the lines changed? We will have to harden our tone to be more credible in the face of those who curse the EU”, said Charles Goerens (ALDE, Luxembourg), deploring the attack of the British press on the alleged ineffectiveness of European aid, and calling for “a debate in transparency, because development policy brings added value until proven otherwise”.
Mimica stated that the controversial Sunday Times article published last week was based on the annual report of delegations in third countries. “That's not a report on the effectiveness of aid. It's a snapshot in time. These projects are working”, Mimica said. In response to Nirj Deva (ECR, UK), who stated that “2,598 projects for €30 billion are not being implemented”, according to a working document from the budgetary control committee on how the EEAS and heads of delegation in the various countries work, Mimica said: “We must together better define our external action and our contributions to the partner countries, and we must review the existing European consensus on development for more coherence”.
He announced that the content of the review will be revealed by the end of the month. As regards the trust funds (Bekou for the CAR, Madda for Syria and the refugees, and the Emergency Fund for Africa), Mimica sees them as an additional tool for obtaining a real impact within one to two years, for creating resilience and jobs in the migrants' countries of origin, and for increasing the ability to manage the migrant flows. “This is not a re-orientation of the existing instruments. It's an operational addition. What does the €1.8 billion managed by the Commission from the trust fund for Africa represent when the EU and its member states mobilise €28 billion a year for Africa?” he asked. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)