Activities of Nicole KIIL-NIELSEN related to 2011/2014(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on budgetary control of EU financial assistance to Afghanistan
Amendments (10)
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that the overall objectives of EU development assistance to Afghanistan should be to assist in the long term sustainable development of the country, including improvement of socio-economic standards and gender equality;, which would help to free Afghanistan's rural population from the grip of opium, underlines that the aid should further facilitate capacity building in public administration, strengthen the rule of law and reduce corruption, thus facilitating the transfer of security to the GIRoA;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Believes that corruption in Afghanistan has reached unprecedented levels as manifest in such scandals as surrounding the Bank of Kabul in which bank officials including President Karzai's brother stand accused of having embezzled 900 million dollars; draws attention to the fact that Norway has frozen all its aid to Afghanistan and that in April, Britain stopped its payments to the main Afghan reconstruction fund;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Considers that the European Union as one of the major donors of official development and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan (more than €2 billion .between 2002 and end of 2010) has a particular responsibility to evaluate whether those funds reach the intended recipients and improve their living conditions;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. In view of the evident lack of absorption capacity in Afghanistan, expresses its serious concern that the indicative financial allocation for 2011– 2013 of €600 million over a period of three years means an increase of over 30% of the yearly allocation compared to the previous four-year period covered by the MIP 2007-2010;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Underlines that after ten years of war, the majority of the Afghan population according to many observers considers the foreign troops as occupiers and that according to the latest report of the UN General Secretariat violence has increase by 40% over the last year;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Reiterates the urgent need to increase efficiency of aid, as many development indicators still show no significant improvement,have not improved but declined over the years and corruption remains a major obstacle to the provision of essential services to the people;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. PNotes that the majority of resources for socio-economic development in Afghanistan are channelled through international mechanisms but a significant proportion of this aid does not reach the intended beneficiaries, the impoverished and disempowered part of the Afghan population; points out the need to make donor coordination work better and to provide for detailed evaluations of aid efficiency in order to improve theransparency and donor accountability of the aid;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. RExpects that the EEAS prepares a realistic analysis of risks and effectiveness of EU aid in Afghanistan for the Berlin conference in December 2011, considering that misplaced aid funnels corruption and criminal networks and thus not only wastes tax payer's money but can be seen as act of complicity towards the development of a failing state; reiterates its call on the EU to set up a centralised database on, and to analyse the costs and the impact of, all EU aid to Afghanistan, as the lack of up-to-date and reliable data undermines aid efficiency and transparency;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Appeals to the EEAS to dare stop, reduce or redirect funding in consultation with the co-legislators in case that the necessary conditions are not fulfilled;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6