EuropeAid already producing ‘immediate results on the ground’

Date: 31/01/02

EuropeAid is still finalising its first annual report, so it is too early to tell whether the reforms to EU external aid have been successful. But a recent Commission paper lists some examples it believes prove that the reforms are producing 'immediate results on the ground'.

• Serbia: one of the first tasks faced by the new office was to handle the aid programme - launched in October 2000 - for post-Milosevic Yugoslavia. During that winter about 120,000 tonnes of fuel and €20 million worth of medicines were delivered to the beleaguered state.
• Palestinian Authority: since May last year, the Commission has allocated €90 million in emergency assistance to Yasser Arafat's administration, as Israel froze the monthly transfer of VAT and custom duty revenues it had been handing over when the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.
• Ukraine: after the closure of Chernobyl in December 2000, the EU allocated €25 million to energy generation in Ukraine. The Commission funded delivery of 370 million cubic metres of natural gas to two major power plants in the country in the first few months of 2001.
• Colombia: at a major conference last April, the Commission endorsed a €340 million 'plan of action' to underpin the Colombian peace process. Its focus is on promoting human rights and developing 'peace laboratories' in which all sides agree to negotiate towards settlement of the civil war.
• Uganda: education lies at the heart of a €31 million EU-funded programme. The Commission says the project is 'working reasonably well' but adds it needs to be intensified if targets are to be hit. All Ugandan children should be enrolled in schools by 2003 in classes of no more than 50 pupils.

A review of some of the reforms introduced by EuropeAid.

http://ec.europa.eu/comm/europeaid/index_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/comm/europeaid/index_en.htm

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