Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2016-03-09-Speech-3-493-000"
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"en.20160309.32.3-493-000"2
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"Mr President, as Chair of the Committee on Development, there are many things I am proud about regarding EU development policy, but the decision by the Ministers and the Commission to award an aid programme to Eritrea is not one of them.
You have heard colleagues from across this Parliament talk about the appalling human rights situation in Eritrea, and that is why in November our Committee unanimously asked that no decision on a new programme be made without further dialogue with Parliament, without further discussion with Ministers. But you went ahead and you signed off on that programme, and the view of Parliament was not just ignored, it was not even reported to the EDF Committee. I hope I have your assurance, Minister – and there is nobody here from the Commission, I hope we get their assurance also – that this does not happen again. This is a very serious decision and I hope that when the spending and annual action programmes come forward Parliament will be involved in these matters.
Secondly, Minister, you said that the money will go to tackle poverty, but 87% of the funding is due to be allocated to energy projects – but to whom is the money going? There is no private sector in Eritrea. Who is getting the money? That is what we need to know.
Finally, you said our response is part of a current response to the migration crisis – that makes me even more sceptical. The number of Eritreans getting refugee status in my country is going down. And let us be clear: the Eritreans who come are refugees from an appalling political system – they are not migrants. I think we should make no link, no tie-up, between our relationship with Eritrea and reducing the number of refugees coming from that country."@en1
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