Parliamentary questions
19 July 2020
E-004289/2020
Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 138
Olivier Chastel (Renew)
Subject: EU humanitarian aid for Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps (Algeria)
For almost 30 years, the European Union has been granting EUR 10 million per year in humanitarian aid to the Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps. In 2003, the Commission referred allegations of aid diversion to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). OLAF’s 2007 report (OF 2003/526), published in 2015, exposed the misappropriation of humanitarian aid and called for an official census of beneficiaries. In his answer to a written question filed on 31 March 2015 (E-005109/2015), Commissioner Stylianides wrote that there had been no evidence of aid diversion since measures were put in place to strengthen the control architecture. However, it would appear that food aid is still finding its way onto Mauritanian markets.
Moreover, in July 2015, at a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, the Director-General of the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) admitted that Algeria was levying a 5 % tax on the humanitarian aid.
1. Does the Commission have any recent information on this aid?
2. If it emerges that aid is once again being diverted, does it intend to enhance the measures taken?
3. How does it intend to respond to the 5 % tax that Algeria levies on the aid?
Original language of question: FR
Last updated: 5 August 2020 Legal notice - Privacy policy
19 July 2020
E-004289/2020
Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 138
Olivier Chastel (Renew)
Subject: EU humanitarian aid for Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps (Algeria)
For almost 30 years, the European Union has been granting EUR 10 million per year in humanitarian aid to the Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps. In 2003, the Commission referred allegations of aid diversion to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). OLAF’s 2007 report (OF 2003/526), published in 2015, exposed the misappropriation of humanitarian aid and called for an official census of beneficiaries. In his answer to a written question filed on 31 March 2015 (E-005109/2015), Commissioner Stylianides wrote that there had been no evidence of aid diversion since measures were put in place to strengthen the control architecture. However, it would appear that food aid is still finding its way onto Mauritanian markets.
Moreover, in July 2015, at a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, the Director-General of the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) admitted that Algeria was levying a 5 % tax on the humanitarian aid.
1. Does the Commission have any recent information on this aid?
2. If it emerges that aid is once again being diverted, does it intend to enhance the measures taken?
3. How does it intend to respond to the 5 % tax that Algeria levies on the aid?
Original language of question: FR
Last updated: 5 August 2020 Legal notice - Privacy policy
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