MEPs accuse the Fee of “financing dictators”, who declare that the 150 million euros it gave to Tunisia final yr, as a part of an settlement on migration and improvement, ended up immediately within the palms of the nation's president.
A gaggle of MEPs from the European Parliament's Human Rights, Justice and International Affairs Committees launched a scathing assault on the chief in Brussels, expressing fears that Fee President Ursula von der Leyen is getting ready to seal the same cope with Egypt.
“The Fee wants to elucidate why there was such a rush on final summer time's deal – why, secretly, in a short time, earlier than Christmas, it stated it was 'pressing' and simply handed over the cash with none crucial dialogue.”
And all this, at some point after the revelations, based on which the European Parliament will enchantment to the Court docket of Justice towards the Fee for the cost of 10.2 billion euros to Viktor Orban's Hungary.
Actually, based on Monetary Instances studies on Wednesday, the settlement with Egypt, which is anticipated to be signed on Sunday, may have a worth of greater than 7 billion euros.
“Appears to be like like we're funding dictators everywhere in the area”
MEPs have accused the European Fee of refusing to reply questions concerning the Tunisia deal and are involved it’s contemplating a sequence of “advert hoc” offers with different African nations with out regard for democracy and the rule of regulation in them.
“We appear to be funding dictators everywhere in the area. And this isn’t the Europe we wish to see. This isn’t the place the EU ought to have on the planet,” stated French MEP Mounir Satouri, a member of the parliamentary committee on international affairs.
At a press convention in Strasbourg, he argued that the cash – promised to Tunisia final yr as a part of a wider pact geared toward stemming a surge in migration to Italy and folks smuggling – had been diverted, saying the €150m they need to have been invested immediately in an EU-agreed venture, however as an alternative “went on to the president”.
Fee: Partnerships to enhance democracy and rights
A Fee spokesman stated that MEPs have the precise to precise their views, however that it’s higher to construct partnerships to enhance democracy and human rights than to “sever relations” and make the state of affairs worse.
“What I can say is that we’re completely satisfied of the necessity to cooperate with the nations of our neighborhood, making an allowance for the truth on the bottom,” the spokesman burdened, including that “we’re conscious of the criticism associated to human rights in these nations and clearly that's a difficulty, and people are points that we're coping with.”
On the identical time, he stated that there are “particular mechanisms for discussing human rights with the nations of the area, together with Egypt”.
Danish MEP Karen Melchior, co-ordinator of the Justice Committee, stated MEPs' considerations concerning the Tunisia deal had been “always ignored” and that commissioners refused to reply their questions or take their considerations severely.
“How can we proceed to have a memorandum of understanding, how can we give unconditional fiscal help to Tunisia when issues are going from unhealthy to worse?” he identified.
“Secret settlement in a rush – The Fee ought to clarify”
“Signing an settlement with President Mentioned, who continues to suppress the opposition and democracy in Tunisia – this isn’t the best way the EU ought to act. This isn’t the best way the Group Europe ought to train its international coverage”, he characteristically stated.
The president of the Human Rights Fee, Udo Bullman, attacked what he described as a “secret” deal, which was rushed via.
“The Fee should clarify why there was such a rush to final summer time's deal – why, secretly, in a short time, earlier than Christmas, [είπε] that he was 'in an enormous hurry' and simply gave the cash with none crucial dialogue,” he burdened, including that this was a query for the EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, but in addition for Ursula von der Leyen.
Michael Gahler, a German CDU MEP who was prevented from visiting Tunisia by native authorities final yr, stated the Tunisian folks shouldn’t be deserted within the face of “Mentioned's authoritarian rule” and financial decline.
The considerations had been raised this week because the European Parliament's five-year time period attracts to a detailed, with MEPs wanting to attract “pink traces” on any future offers the Fee intends to strike in Brussels.
in.gr
