Brussels, 16/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Thursday 15 January, the European Parliament adopted the own initiative report by Véronique Mathieu (EPP-ED, France) by the overwhelming majority of 550 votes to 5, with 25 abstentions, and called for better coordination among donors in Afghanistan, particularly among member states, so that European Union initiatives are given greater prominence.
Mathieu travelled to Afghanistan last spring to see for herself how EU aid was being used on the ground. She saw that the permanent state of war in the country, the fragility of the administrative system, problems with understanding government strategy, drug trafficking and corruption made it difficult to implement European aid. She said that “the EU's primary objective has to be to create the conditions for better governance, to allow the Afghan state to ensure the security of its people and respect for the law, and to create the conditions for sustainable development in the country”. This objective was “ambitious, but the results achieved by EU aid are promising,” she said in Strasbourg. The report adopted on Thursday nevertheless calls on the European Commission to improve coordination of European aid to make it more effective and easier to monitor. Combating corruption had to be the main objective, she said. This would involve, inter alia, improving the way public finances are managed and supervised, and training, of auditors, for example.
The report also calls on the Commission to do all it can to give greater prominence to EU initiatives in Afghanistan. “Official recognition would strengthen the European Union's position in the dialogue with Afghan authorities and international organisations,” Mathieu argued. Her report calls on the Commission to provide the Parliament with an annual report containing an assessment of the effectiveness of Community aid, information of the level of spending monitored and an analysis of any irregularities.
Between 2002 and 2006, the EU provided Afghanistan with a total of €1.4 billion in aid, 88% of which was for reconstruction and 12% for humanitarian operations. (O.L./transl.rt)