Down the Drain
The European Union (EU) announced the other day that £500 million of aid provided to Egypt to improve the rights of women and minorities, and more generally to fight corruption - has gone straight down the drain.
The money has been spent since 2011 - during the dying days of the Mubarak Government and under the new regime led by President Morsi - with much of the funds being used in the apparently fruitless promotion of human rights and democracy.
News reports say that the Old and New Egyptian Governments have been running rings around Brussels’ attempts to use the aid to improve human rights and combat corruption - details of which are set out in a detailed EU review.
Auditors examined the past five years of EU aid - which amounted to more than €1 billion - with the budget administered by the EU’s External Action Service (EEAS) - run by Baroness Ashton of Upholland (an UK Commissioner appointed by Gordon Brown) and Stefan Fule - the Commissioner for neighbourhood policy.
Amazingly although the EU handed Egypt £500 million over five years - there is no trace of how the money was spent in country by the Egyptian Government despite the fact that these funds were supposed to be targeted in areas such as education.
The EU Commission which oversees all EU spending objected to the fierce criticism of its work in Egypt, but the auditors’ report simply reflected long-standing concerns over the way the EU distributes funds - and the policy of using aid to advance democracy and human rights.
Karel Pinxten, the senior official who headed the Egypt audit, said that there had been no improvement in the promotion of democracy or governance - under the Muslim-led Government of President Morsi and said:
"There was a problem with Mubarak. This problem is worsening. That is very clear. There is no audit trail once the budget has been transferred. There is no way that we can check."
So there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth and another open goal for UKIP no doubt - but at least some honesty from those who are keen that the EU should do better and be held properly to account for the huge sums of money that it spends.
