(de Ware Tijd) THE HAGUE – Suriname and the Caribbean are unable to optimally use development aid from the European Union (EU). Bureaucratic red tape at the EU obstructed complete use of the 320 million Euros in 2011, yielding only 63 percent. Suriname received only 5.5 million while it had been promised 10.
Rabin Parmessar of the permanent committee for ACP-EU affairs complains that the EU lacks flexibility to anticipate the need. The EU 2010 assessment report states that less funds, 83 percent of the promised 360 million Euros, were spent than promised. In 2010 Suriname received a little over 13 million. Parmessar’s wish is that the EU office in Paramaribo expands. Suriname successfully argued that the understaffed office should hire at least one person. ‘But we’re not satisfied yet. We want more staff in the Paramaribo office and we would like it to have more authority instead of waiting for orders from Georgetown, which houses the EU Embassy.’
Suriname is currently preparing the paperwork to submit projects for the Eleventh European Development Fund (EDF XI). The fund yields some 20 million Euros annually. In addition there are several other funds, regional and multilateral, which cannot be used optimally due to bureaucratic scheming. Parmessar emphasizes that it often does not only involve financial matters, but the exchange of knowledge and experiences as well as trade cooperation. The legislator does not compare the EU development aid to that received from the Netherlands. ‘The relation between Paramaribo and The Hague was stipulated in a treaty and its execution was quite different from what we have with the EU.’ Parmessar hopes that the promised 9.5 million for the banana industry will be granted this year, while in the meantime Suriname is searching for ways to get more money for this sector.
