Brussels (Belgium), March 14, 2015 (SPS) - Eurodeputies have exposed the ploys around the controversy relating to the alleged misappropriation of the European aid to Saharawi refugees.
In response to manoeuvers undertaken behind the scene, through some MPs in the service of colonization in Western Sahara, concerning alleged misappropriation of the European Union humanitarian aid in the Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf, many Eurodeputies seek to bring substantial amendments to the draft report of the chairwoman of the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT).
In their amendment proposal, the Eurodeputies implicated a "foreign party," namely a law firm assigned by a non-European diplomatic mission in Brussels, to unearth a report by the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF), dating back to ten years ago.
The tactic is intended to undermine the interests of Saharawi refugees on the eve of a UN Security Council meeting that will discuss Western Sahara issue.
Following OLAF's report issued in 2007, the European law makers said, the European Commission had adopted the appropriate measures.
The measures included reassessment, with the collaboration of the aforementioned EU body, the number of refugees to adapting the aid to the new figures.
With the "absence of evidence that could have led to administrative and legal procedures," OLAF had merely closed the case, "in which the scheming of a non-European party has been confirmed."
The Eurodeputies stressed that the European Commission had already taken all the necessary measures to boost control on aid shipping to Saharawi refugee camps as part of a regular and rigorous follow-up, as part of the operations undertaken by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).
The European Parliament members denounced "those who exploit this groundless controversy" to deprive Saharawi refugees from a vital humanitarian aid, which is contrary to European Parliament's strong positon in favour of Saharawi refugees. (SPS)
062/090/700