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To the European Court of Auditors (ECA), European Union funding for Morocco had shown limited results. Delivered through directs transfers to the Kingdom’s treasury between 2014 and 2018, EU financial aid provided «limited value and ability to support reforms in the country», ECA said in a report released Wednesday.
The body’s auditors were assigned to assess the results of the program monitored by the European Commission and examined the areas targeted by the EU financial budget. According to the same document, ECA’s auditors have found that «EU budget support for Morocco did not provide sufficient support for the country’s reforms and progress on key challenges was limited», Hannu Takkula, the ECA Member responsible for the report.
These conclusions were made after the European Commission programmed €1.4 billion of aid for Morocco for the period between 2014 and 2020. The same document indicates that by «the end of 2018, [the Commission] had concluded contracts for €562 million and made payments of almost €206 million under its budget support instrument, which is aimed at promoting reforms and sustainable development goals and makes up 75 % of EU annual spending for the country».
A broad approach
However, auditors, have found that the areas covered by the financial aid were too many and that such «broad definition of eligible areas covering a large number of sectors reduces the potential impact of EU support».
Furthermore, they stressed that «the Commission had not allocated funding to sectoral program using a transparent method and coordination of donors amongst the sectors was uneven».
ECA have also said that not every program has fully fulfilled and achieved. «The programs are currently still ongoing, but have so far showed no significant impact, as less than half of their targets had been achieved by the end of 2018», auditors added.
They have also warned that payments «were sometimes made when targets had not been achieved and even when the situation actually deteriorated».
In this sense, Takkula sressed the need of «focusing support on fewer sectors and strengthening the political and policy dialogue with Morocco».
The same report concuded that the European Commission «enhances the control procedures for disbursements, strengthen policy dialogue and increase the visibility of EU support».
