 The Taxpayer's Association of Europe, a federation of 29 national taxpayers associations throughout Europe with more than one million members, has called on the European Union to investigate the misappropriation of humanitarian aid sent to Tindouf camps by Algeria and Polisario.
In an article on the latest developments of this issue at the level of the European Parliament, European information website 'Eutoday.net' made an interview with Walter Grupp, Director of the Brussels office of the Taxpayer's Association of Europe, in which he underlines that nothing has been done since the publication of the OLAF report in 2015.
"I believe that somebody at the level of those institutions (European Commission) does not take this matter seriously," Grupp said.
EUToday also spoke to Bulgarian MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk, who has recently raised the matter of the aid embezzlement with the European Commission.
"The European Parliament closely follows the situation on the ground and takes action when necessary. The EU taxpayers' money must be spent properly and we should not close our eyes when there is such a misuse of funds," he pointed out.
"However, leaving aside the forces involved and political conflicts, this is an internal European debate around the transparency and the truth of our European political institutions and systems," EUToday added.
It is also about defending the populations in the Tindouf camps, it said, noting that in addition to being deprived of drinking water and electricity, and living in tents in deplorable conditions, these populations "must suffer the greed of the Polisario leaders who are enriched further by their misery."
Their conditions are deteriorating, it said, adding that a UN Security Council report (October 2019) highlighted, amongst other issues, a distressing increase in levels of malnutrition in the camps.
"This is the human cost of the misappropriation of food aid," EUToday pointed out.
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