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Europe's Unaccountable Palestinian Aid

(Wall Street Journal Europe) Michael Theurer - The EU is today the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority, but European lawmakers have a duty to ensure that EU funds aren't diverted from the noble purpose for which they're intended. In its report, issued in December, the European Court of Auditors revealed major dysfunctions in the management of EU financial support to the PA, and called for a serious overhaul of the funding mechanism. The PA is the only body that receives EU funds regardless of its human-rights record or economic performance. The court revealed that, since 2007, "a considerable number" of PA civil servants in Gaza have received their salaries partly funded through EU aid - even though they "were not going to work due to the political situation in Gaza." How exactly can the EU preserve its credibility back home when it pays salaries to people who don't work, while millions of European citizens are unemployed? Moreover, there is reason to believe that EU financial assistance has allowed the PA to use its own general budget to pay salaries to Palestinian prisoners convicted of terrorism offenses. These salaries are up to five times higher than the average salary in the West Bank. The writer is chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control.
2014-04-11 00:00:00
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