EU aid delays criticised

A British newspaper has published details of a parliamentary report that criticises the European Union for its slowness in getting international aid to victims of disasters.

The report, published in the Sunday Telegraph, says that nearly two years after Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America, the EU has failed to deliver any of its promised aid, worth one-hundred and seventy million pounds.

The report accuses the EU of mismanagement.

And it says the EU's aid programmes favour countries close to the Union rather than those in other parts of the world.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service