Brussels, 19/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - The tension that has reigned for some time now between the European Commission and the Development NGO Liaison Committee to the EU has further worsened on the approach of the official presentation, this Wednesday, by an independent auditing office, of a report of the Committee's management. This report should reveal management problems and establish the lack of proof of payments of 1 million euro, sum that the European Commission should ask to recover. It is not, however, a question of fraud. The Commission has announced that it would not be paying out any more money as long as the problem is not sorted out. The second tranche of funding for 2000 has already been suspended.
The Liaison Committee rejects the accusations of mismanagement and considers, on the contrary, that the Commission changes the rules of the game and bases itself on demands that do not appear in contracts signed between the Institution and association. The Committee also stresses that suspension of payments places its existence on a very short fuse.
Tomorrow, EUROPE will return to the details of this controversy.