ARTICLE - EU DISSATISFIED WITH FUND MGMT.

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION DISSATISFIED WITH THE MANAGEMENT OF EU FUNDS
(Haiti Libre) -

The delegation of 6 deputies, from the Committee on Budgetary Control of the European Parliament, ended last Friday its 72-hour mission to Haiti. This visit came one month after the adoption by Parliament of a critical report on the management of humanitarian assistance of the European Union, prepared by the Austrian deputy Martin Ehrenhauser, a member of the delegation.

Led by the German deputy member of the European People's Party (EPP) Ingeborg Grässle, the delegation met with politicians, managers of funds, as well as representatives of NGOs, international financial institutions and the United Nations.

Government transparency, efficiency, accountability, citizen involvement in decision making, land reform and the fight against corruption, were the focus of discussions with elected Haitians, in search of pledges and promises of change that would encourage sustainable cooperation with the European Union.

At the end of its mission, the delegation noted, weaknesses in terms of transparency, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness in the management of EU funds by the United Nations. The six deputies do not find satisfactory the use of European aid in Haiti. According to them, "the situation is very, very serious [...] It is not a question of spending money like that [...] It is an obligation to do more". We must know where the money spent goes as part of the humanitarian aid. To their credit, the Haitian parliamentarians, who met with the delegation, explained to the European deputies that they had no means of control over the planning, spending and evaluation of results, regarding the management of humanitarian aid to Haiti.

Ingeborg Grässle, lamented the situation in Haiti, stressing that it is unacceptable to see some of the people on the roadside in poverty, and that it is essential to get the country out of the mentality of humanitarian aid.

Furthermore, it was stressed the need to find an urgent solution to the political crisis, and that the Haitian Government takes the leadership, to define an overall vision.

According to the statement of the delegation, the findings of their report will be included in the annual discharge report on expenditures of the European Commission and in the discharge of the European Development Fund (EDF).