Extend tsunami aid time-frame, say MEPs

By David Cronin

Date: 23/06/05

MEPs are urging that the time-frame for spending the €350 million promised in EU aid to countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami should be extended because of logistical problems on the ground.

The European Parliament's development committee this week voted that the money should be spent over three years rather than the two proposed by the European Commission.

Swedish centre-right MEP Anders Wijkman said that deputies "simply don't think it is feasible to do something intelligent in a very short period of time", citing problems in co-ordinating aid efforts. He also said that he was opposed to the Commission's efforts to take away €60m in long-term development aid already earmarked to Asia for tsunami-related projects. Money for the reconstruction efforts must be "fresh", he insisted.

UK Conservative Nirj Deva has visited Sri Lanka, where he was born, several times since it was hit by the 26 December disaster. Sri Lanka and Indonesia, he said, have severe problems in absorbing the donations promised to them, especially because of skills shortages.

Of the 110,000 houses that need to be built in Sri Lanka, he said, just 2,000 have so far been completed. The country does not have the number of carpenters and builders needed to carry out all the required work, in part because many craftsmen have emigrated to the Middle East, where they can earn higher wages.

An official in the Commission's external assistance office, EuropeAid, expressed hope that the development committee's call would not be backed by the entire Parliament during its debate on the EU's budget in October. Extending the time-frame would cause programming difficulties, the source added.

Another EuropeAid official said it was not unusual for logistical problems to arise in major aid projects.

Under the Parliament's call, €100m would be spent this year and the remaining €250m in 2006-07.

MEPs on the European Parliament's Development Committee want the deadline for spending the €350 promised in EU aid to countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami to be extended because of logistical problems on the ground. The Committee want the money to be spent over three years rather than two years as suggested by the European Commission.