| Sustained attention for abuse finally bears fruit |
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EU suspends 35 million euros of aid to Palestinians ”lacking budgetary discipline”. Strasbourg, January 18, 2006. - Gradually intensified scrutiny by foreign donors on the Palestinian Authority has lead the E.U. to freeze half of the 70 million aid, meant to be paid end of last year. European Commissioner for External Affairs, mrs Benita Ferrero-Waldner stated this while visiting the region 10 days before the Palestinian elections on January 25. Mrs. Ferrero motivated the sanction by saying that: ”The E.U. has not paid because the benchmarks have not been fulfilled”. At a conference by the European Coalition for Israel last September in the European Parliament in Brussels, Alan Seatter, a senior Commission-official at the EU-unit responsible for the aid to the Palestinians, acknowledged that ”there had been problems in the past”. He promised that de new EU-policy was more stringent, so the aid to the Palestinians in the future would be conditional, released only when certain benchmarks are met. Tuesday’s decision to suspend financial aid marks the implementation of this new policy, although the EU has frozen funds for the PA in 2002 and 2003 for some time. Experts believe this may signal a new attitude in EU aid in the Middle East. EU’s Foreign Affairs envoy Javier Solana last December announced that EU aid to the Palestinians could be severely reduced if Hamas should win the elections next week. It is widely analysed that the sustained and increased pressure on the EU and its member states has lead the EU to re-evaluate its funding policy. The European Coalition for Israel actively campaigned over the last years for stricter guidelines ruling EU-aid to the Palestinians. As a response to Alan Seatter’s speech the Coalition presented a new European Leadership Funding model, which has been introduced to the EP-delegation to the Knesset end of November in Jerusalem and to the British House of Commons. Next month this research also will be presented both to the current EU-presidency of Austria and the upcoming presidency of Finland. ”Our Coalition warmly welcomes this brave and encouraging step as a sign that the growing demand of citizens in the EU for stricter monitoring of financial aid is finally responded to”, Coalition-director Rijk van Dam said Wednesday in the Strasbourg EP. ”More than two years ago already Palestinian minister Fayyad told to MEPs in Brussels that not one euro of the hundred of millions foreign aid were left. Last November Fayyad resigned as minister to run for the parliament and no successor as minister of Finance has been appointed!” ”We consider this as just the first step in the right direction, there is much to be done to finally stop funding of terrorism, directly or indirectly”, he warned. Van Dam concluded: ”Funds for the Palestinian population should not only meet the needs of the recipient through strict auditing, but also have to been connected with strict benchmarks on human rights, freedom, democracy and the rule of law. The EU should commit itself not to support financially any authority which permits or even encourages incitement to hatred or violence against ethnic or religious minorities by its leaders, media or education system”. |