Wednesday, December 11, 2013

EU auditors demand that the EU stop handing over aid money to pay Palestinian civil servants in Gaza who do not work

(Gaza) Auditors who were called in to check how EU money is spent in Gaza found that since Hamas came to power in 2007, over 61,000 civil servants who stopped working due to their links to Fatah have continued to pick up a salary.

Since 1994, the European Union has provided some €5.6 billion ($7.7 billion) in aid to the Palestinians, with its main PEGASE programme worth €1 billion ($1.35 billion) in the 2008-12 period in direct assistance to the PNA.

With money getting tight over at the EU, the auditors have demanded that something should be done in which to reduce their expenditure, say, like cutting off these freeloaders.

Nice little earner if you can get it, which inside Gaza it seems isn't that hard at all.