Germany sends aid to Pennsylvania?
Posted on 07/22/2004 8:30:26 AM PDT by anotherview
Report: Germany mulling cutting aid to PA
Spokesman for ruling SPD party calls on EU foreign ministers to stop financial payments to Palestinians if the power fight in the government gets any worse.
Maariv International
Amidst corruption allegations and a leadership crisis, German politicians are calling for measures to be taken against the government of Yasser Arafat, including a freezing of European Union aid.
The foreign policy spokesman for the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD), Gert Weisskirchen, has told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that EU foreign ministers should stop financial aid payments to the Palestinian Authority if the power fight in the government gets any worse. "This is an instrument with which we can support the constructive powers in Palestine," Weisskirchen argued.
Conservatives have also called for more controls on financial aid payments to the Palestinians. Armin Laschet, a member of the European Parliament representing the Christian Democratic Union, told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper that the EU has committed "grave errors" in its funding of President Arafat.
Between 2000 and 2003, the EU has wired €10 million a month to the Palestinian Authority without proper controls, he said. Laschet, who is co-chair of the parliamentary committee responsible for oversight of the EU's Palestinian aid, also alleged that the Palestinians had been using the funds illegally.
Allegations that Arafat misappropriated international funds emerged earlier this week when German public broadcaster ARD ran a report with documents showing that Arafat wired $5.1 million in September 2001 to a personal account at the Arab Bank in Cairo.
The report said the millions might also have included international aid money. In light of the allegations, CDU's spokesman on Middle East policy, Ruprecht Polenz, called for the blocking of Arafat's account, "in which aid money is apparently sitting illegally." However, Polenz warned against taking blanket financial sanctions against the Palestinian Authority - a move he said could strengthen opponents of the peace process.
(2004-07-22 17:42:09.0)
Germany sends aid to Pennsylvania?
My bad. I thought the headline said Germany was cutting aid to Pennsylvania.
This is the European/U.N. alternative to pre-emption - wait until the issue has reached epic crisis proportions (in this case, rioting and Palestinian on Palestinian violence) before acknowledging the problem.
LOL. I wish. Sadly, PA also means "Palestinian Authority", a euphemism for a bunch of corrput thugs and criminals led by a lifelong terrorist.
So, I guess the EU isn't happy with the current situation -- no Israelis have be blown to bits as of late.
Mmm, dunno about this. Better check and see what Chirac wants to do first; you know how upset he gets when European countries act without his permission.
They are just "mulling", not doing, which is consistent with them being in the "coalition of the unwilling".
Me too, and I was thinking....What the heck did Pennsylvania do to Germany?
Hey, didn't you ever hear of Germantown, PA? :)
Soon, if the European Union, the World Court, and the U.N. have their way with the U.S. and Israel, you will see Ramalla, PA, Gaza, PA, Khan Yunis, PA, Arafat, PA and Sheik Omar, PA and calls for toddlers to become suicide bombers will be carried on the breezes of the charming town squares of Penn's Woods.
If Germany is beginning to realize it's gone well down the path of repeating its abysmal 20th century history and wants to change course, that would be good news.
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