Short attacked for 'incoherent' critique of EU aid projects

A war of words broke out over the way the European Union distributes development aid after Clare Short, Secretary of State for Development, called the programmes "an outrage and a disgrace".

The European Commission said the minister's attack on the EU for failing to concentrate on the poorest nations was "not very coherent", accusing her yesterday of criticising decisions that she helped make.

The storm broke as the Commons Public Accounts Committee published a report that criticised Ms Short's own department on similar grounds – arguing that it focuses 22 per cent of its bilateral aid on countries that are middle income rather than poor.

It also attacked the Department for International Development's performance targets and said structures in place meant that the Government "cannot be certain that aid resources are being used cost-effectively".

Before the report was published, Ms Short told BBC2's Newsnight: "A third of my budget goes through the European Commission and a shrinking amount of their money goes to the poorest countries. It's an outrage and a disgrace and we need enormous pressure on the Commission to focus its money on poor countries and helping reformers in poor countries.

"If they don't, I think when the next replenishment comes round in 2006, we should have less of our money going through the Commission."

Michael Curtis, spokesman for the European Commissioner for Development, said this was "the position of Clare Short not the position of the British Government. We get criticised by Clare Short for spending money in the Bal-kans. We were under the impression that this is what the British Government had asked us to do. It is not a very coherent approach. To say we are perplexed or bemused might be an understatement."

At the heart of the rift is the fact that the European Commission's development programme covers a wide range of spending projects, ranging from poverty alleviation in the Third World to programmes designed to prevent conflict in the Balkans.

Of the total annual €6bn (£3.75bn) development aid budget, about half goes to areas such as the Balkans, the former Communist states of eastern Europe, Latin America or EU neighbour countries such as Morocco in programmes designed to ensure regional stability. Most of the rest goes to Africa.

In 2001 the biggest aid recipients were Montenegro and Serbia (€464m), Turkey (€204m) and Kosovo (€171m), while Morocco (€122m) received more than Bangladesh (€107m). While 50 per cent of EU aid went to the poorest counties in 1998, that slipped to 38 per cent in 2001.

However, the Commission argues that the poorest countries in Africa are guaranteed about 90 per cent of a special development fund, which, over the period 2000-2005, is worth a total of €13.5bn.