TAE on the occasion of the EU debate on the report on the 2013 budget discharge

Humanitarian aid is important, but it must not be wasted.
The EU must ensure that taxpayer-funded humanitarian aid reaches those in need.

At a time of EU-wide austerity measures and steadily rising refugee numbers (now totalling 50 million people worldwide), the EU must ensure that the humanitarian aid provided by taxpayers actually reaches those in need.

As clearly documented in the OLAF report (OF 2003/526; Link: http://fr.slideshare.net/434HT121PPOL/jk45as912ws ), EU aid supplies intended, for example, for the camps in Tindouf, Algeria, were misappropriated and sold on the markets of neighbouring countries or even sold to refugees, so that those in charge in the Sahrawi territories and Algeria could enrich themselves personally, rather than distributing the aid. By 2003, when the report was commissioned, at least 105 million euros in aid had flowed into this region. Annual EU aid amounts to around 10 million euros. It appears that this critical OLAF report is being covered up, says Rolf von Hohenhau, President of the Taxpayers’ Association.

In the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets, some MEPs apparently sought clarification from, amongst others, the responsible EU Commissioner, MEP Dr Inge Grässle, but she has so far failed to answer the two most important questions: Can the European Commission guarantee that those responsible for these cases of fraud will no longer have access to EU funds? Can the European Commission guarantee that registration takes place in the host countries, given that – according to European taxpayers – OLAF and the UN cite uncertainty regarding population figures in the Tindouf camps as the main reason for the fraud cases?

In the view of the Taxpayers’ Association of Europe (TAE), these questions must be answered and assurances given that the funds provided actually reach those in need before any new humanitarian aid is approved.