UK report 'condemns EU aid policy'

Flood victims in Nicaragua are still waiting for EU aid

A UK parliamentary report is expected to sharply criticise the European Union for failing to deliver aid to victims of Hurricane Mitch, which devastated Central America two years ago.

The report, details of which were published in Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, will accuse the EU of mismanagement, saying its aid programmes favour countries close to the EU.

The EU has failed to deliver any of the $263.5m (£175m) package it pledged to help survivors of Hurricane Mitch, according to the report by the cross-party Commons Select Committee on International Development.

The hurricane caused floods and mudslides that killed almost 7,000 people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras.

The EU Commission: Accused of "gesture politics"

The report will accuse European commissioners of "gesture politics" by announcing substantial aid without knowing how it could be spent on the ground.

It will call for sweeping reforms of the Brussels-based European Commission's aid-giving programme and management and the creation of a single unit answerable to one senior commissioner to oversee aid.

Aid distribution

Morocco - a former French colony on the edge of Europe - gets the largest share of EU aid, followed by the Balkans.

The report will reject the Commission's explanation that it is seeking to help countries where turmoil would threaten the stability of Europe. Instead, the report will argue that upheavals in various African countries would also threaten Europe's interests.

The EU Commissioner for External Affairs, Chris Patten, has called for a massive overhaul of the way the EU distributes its disaster relief.

In May he said that over 20bn euros ($18bn) earmarked for disaster relief had yet to be spent, and blamed meddling from member states.