Is EU aid for the refugee camps in Tindouf subject to Algerian tax?

In connection with the European Parliament’s 2013 budget discharge report, the European Taxpayers’ Association expressed shock at the massive embezzlement of EU aid funds intended for the refugee camps in Tindouf by Sahrawi and Algerian officials. According to a report by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the corrupt officials provided false refugee figures in order to artificially inflate the amount of aid, and subsequently sold part of the aid supplies for personal gain. Since EU aid for the camps in Tindouf began over 30 years ago, with annual aid allocations of around 10 million euros, at least 250 million euros of European taxpayers’ money has been spent.

Just as shocking as the uncovering of the fraud itself was the European Commission’s failure to take appropriate countermeasures. At a hearing of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control in July 2015, an official from the Commission’s Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) mentioned that Algeria levies a tax amounting to 5 per cent of the annual humanitarian aid of 10 million euros for the refugee camps in Tindouf. He described this as an unacceptable practice that the Commission wished to change. In fact, the European Commission appears to be the only international organisation that pays such a tax on its humanitarian aid for the camps in Tindouf, as the United Nations humanitarian agencies, including the World Food Programme, do not pay tax on the aid they channel into the camps. By a conservative estimate, the EU has paid between 10 and 25 million euros in taxes to Algeria over the last 30 years.

A year on, the situation has worsened dramatically, and the EU is facing the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War, whilst many European economies continue to suffer. In this context, every euro of European citizens’ tax money counts. The refugee camps in Tindouf are just one example of this. This week, the European Parliament is once again voting on the budget discharge resolution, yet Tindouf is not on the agenda. Does this mean that all problems relating to corruption and unfair taxation have been resolved? If so, the European Commission and the European Parliament should inform the public of this, so that citizens can be assured that their tax money is being put to good use.