EU splashes more UK cash on another French ex-colony

Commission’s priorities never seem to include UK interests

Go WTO tiles

The latest largesse from the EU Commission - spending the money provided by member states including in no small measure by the UK - goes once again to a former French colony in Africa.

On Friday last week the EU’s Directorate for International Cooperation and Development proudly announced extra funding for the West African country of the Cote d’Ivoire, or Ivory Coast.

How much money is involved?

The latest funding announced on Friday brings the total allocated to the Cote d’Ivoire by the EU in the current budget period to €308 million. (Over ¼ billion Pounds.) This may not sound a huge amount, but the Cote d’Ivoire is a poor country.

Using the IMF’s purchasing parity formula, the €308 million would equate to around €3.4 billion (£3 billion pounds) in UK terms. In other words this is a highly significant sum for this developing country.

Following the UK’s money

The money allocated by the EU Commission comes from its off-the-books “European Development Fund” (EDF), to which the UK contributes. Extra monies have also been provided under the “European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa”.

It is important to note that the monies being used do NOT appear as part of the official EU budget. This means that they are never included when the Treasury or ONS provide data on UK contributions to the EU.

The EU’s off-budget EDF fund totals €30.5 billion for the current EU budgeting period, as we have reported many times. For this not to be included in any calculations about UK contributions to the EU has always seemed bizarre, to say the least.

What is the money for this time?

According to the EU Commission, the latest tranche of additional funding for the Cote d’Ivoire is for

“the Good Governance and Development Contract, the interim Economic Partnership Agreement, and for flanking measures.”

No, we haven’t got a clue either, except for one thing. ‘Economic Partnership Agreements’ are included in the EU’s list of countries with whom it has ‘trade deals’. In reality they are somewhat different, as this example shows. Why is the EU paying money towards this Agreement?

Observations

Brexit Facts4EU.Org monitors the output of the various organs of the EU on a daily basis. Announcements such as the one above are routine.

What we almost never see is any announcement relating to an international matter of importance to the UK. Former British colonies are virtually never mentioned.

Conversely, if you’re French you will see such announcements on a regular basis. If the country in question speaks French (as a result of past colonisation) then it seems to qualify for maximum attention from the Commissariat in Brussels. Announcements are rushed out, in French, by the EU’s propaganda machine. Sometimes an English translation appears after a day or two.

Remote, unaccountable power

This article is not about economics. It is about remote, unaccountable power. This power is exercised on a daily basis by unelected bureaucrats over whom the British public has no control. You didn’t vote them in, and you can’t vote them out.

This week we will have the unedifying scene of many of our elected representatives in Parliament trying to overthrow the result of the EU Referendum of 2016. They will use a variety of methods and with the backing of the anti-Brexit Speaker of the House, John Bercow, they are likely to overturn centuries of tradition and protocols to get their way.

Whether these anti-democrats will ultimately be successful or not, one thing is for sure. At some point between now and June 2022 they will face re-election.

And then, unlike EU Commissioners, you can vote them out.

[Sources: EU Commission Directorate for International Cooperation and Development | IMF]

21 Jan 2019

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Reader Comments 3

1. Jon, Wales , Monday, January 21, 2019, 08:33:

When the EU splashes cash they believe is their own, let us take a pause.
The EU has no cash of its own in the sense us mere mortals know it - they have taxpayers cash, and they'll come up with some scheme or another to get it. I tend to refer to this as extortion of Nation States? I question the EU's motive to force taxpayers into building their vanity EU army, navy, and air force? I don't recall the EEC/EU ever seeking electoral consent, nor do I recall the UK Parliament going mad about it?
Likewise, the UK government has no cash of its own, it has British taxpayers cash, and should they not use our cash wisely, we throw them out of office, something we cannot do with the EU Commission.
So I challenge remain MPs in the UK - who gave you authority to send ever more money to the EU for them to do as they wish. We never voted on a single EU treaty. As a concerned LEAVE voter, any UK Parliament should use British taxpayers cash in the UK first and foremost.
Do remain voters understand the better our country does, the more British taxpayers [BY LAW] have to fund the commonly known Foreign Aid Budget (at 0.7% of GDP). Should not the UK as the 5th largest economy perhaps first abolish food banks in our own country before handing out £billions overseas.
As the second highest NET contributor, the EU have taken the UK for granted for decades. The majority electorate have called time on it to chart our own destiny. The EU should reduce their own spending accordingly, without expecting others to pick up their tab?

2. steve , Monday, January 21, 2019, 09:27:

I cannot wait for the next election , we need to get organised and motivated ready to expose these anti-democratic europhile MP's to their constituents and get their voters to switch to a democratic one.
I hope we can organise some flyers etc for distribution.

3. Concerned Expat , Tuesday, January 22, 2019, 06:09:

Jon in Wales, I agree with you. However, most of the 'bubble' are anti-Britain in that they don't accept what we believe in. It is they who need 're-education'.

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