European aid is ineffective

The Europeans' difficulties in finding a common foreign policy also render their aid measures ineffective, writes the daily Postimees: "No one doubts that European aid is necessary. Aside from in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine we support projects in Africa, Latin America and Central Asia, and even in Eastern Europe. In all these places people need and have the right to better living conditions. But there are too few control mechanisms for deploying aid. When buildings we have built serve to stockpile arms or hide smuggling tunnels we shouldn't be surprised when they are attacked and our money is lost. The aid organisation Oxfam summed up the situation many years ago. 'Aid money trickles away like water in a leaky bucket. But the challenge lies in finding and repairing the leak, not in pouring all the quicker'."

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