Auditors attack EU democracy programmes

Date: 03/08/00

By John Shelley

THE European Court of Auditors has launched a fierce attack on the EU's programmes for supporting democracy and promoting human rights abroad, claiming they are badly organised, poorly monitored and ineffective.

In a report on aid projects designed to promote good government in non-EU countries, the Court says the Commission has failed to get the best value out of the millions of euro it spends. It criticises a lack of strategic planning, says there is no satisfactory process for evaluating the impact of EU-funded projects, and argues that not enough follow-up work is carried out. "Projects were too thinly spread over too many intervention areas which limited their impact on the democracy and the human rights situation," states its report.

The Court also argues that programmes such as Phare, Meda and Tacis are understaffed, leaving them open to abuse by outside contractors who have used the lack of monitoring to claim expenses they are not entitled to.

The amount of EU cash spent on promoting democracy overseas has ballooned since the late 1980s, with the Union increasingly funding public authorities, institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and voluntary bodies. The auditors say that although this is a positive trend, the distribution of funds has been haphazard and projects have lacked a strategic overview. "There are too many small projects, the impact of which is diluted," states their report.

It adds that the preparatory work done by the Commission before it awards grants has been poor, with money often handed out to groups because they asked for it rather than on the basis of research to determine whether the proposed scheme would make the best use of the available cash.

To improve the situation, the Court says recipient countries should be individually assessed to determine their needs and the cash distributed on the basis of this. It also stresses the need for an objective monitoring system at both project and programme level, and says the Commission should take a longer-term approach

The European Court of Auditors has launched a fierce attack on the EU's programmes for supporting democracy and promoting human rights abroad, claiming they are badly organised, poorly monitored and ineffective.