‘’How will the EU leadership check the correct use of EU funds for the reconstruction of Gaza in order to make sure that European taxpayers do not support terror activities by Hamas and particularly the terror tunnels and rocket manufacturing?''.
Italian Member of the European Parliament, Fulvio Martusciello, who chairs parliament’s delegation for realtions with Israel, sent this week a written question to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on this issue.
‘’The Israeli-Palestinian conflict last summer has left behind a still burning fuse that the implementation of the EU's foreign policy should try to turn off,’’ Martusciello, a mrember of the European People's Party (EPP), who has recently visited Israel, wrote.
‘’ Before we spend millions of Euros from the contribution of European citizens we should have the confidence to supervise on how it will be spent,’’ he added.
The MEP mentioned that as early as 2013, the EU Court of Auditors had found that nearly 2 billion euros in aid that the EU committed in the past few years was untraceable. Some 400 million euros were contributions to the Palestinian Authority and to Gaza.
Earlier this month, during a hearing at the European Parliament organized by the Euopean Friends of Israel (EFI), a German MEP, Arne Gericke, said that the funding promised by the European Union for the reconstruction of Gaza – some 450 million euros- could directly contribute to terrorism without proper oversight.
“Proper checks and balances must be put into place. As thing stand, we cannot be sure that EU funds are not being used for terror tunnels and weapons. It would sicken most European taxpayers to know that the EU itself could be directly contributing to the tragic cycle of violence,” he said.
Gericke pointed out that every US aid dollar is subject to congressional oversight and is regulated even after it is in Palestinian bank accounts, but MEPs don’t have such power and the EU does not have that control over funding.