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[Excerpt:]

"The evenhandedness with which the EU carefully attempts to craft its Middle East diplomacy stands in stark contrast to an anarchic NGO funding policy in the region. Worryingly, no public documents exist that chronicle the EU’s decision to renew funding for the likes of ARIJ. Did massive EU backing for ARIJ contribute to advancing peace and tolerance as envisaged in EU guidelines? Did substantial EU money have any positive impact? Does anyone in the EU even know what was actually done with this and many other similar allocations? EU obfuscation ensures that we will apparently never know the answer. This is not an isolated incident and nor is it an issue which should be confined to the concerns of Middle East observers. It is reflective of a wider accountability deficit within the EU that should worry all European taxpayers. Despite the tens of millions of euros provided annually by the European public, any citizen wishing to discover which NGOs receive their hard earned cash will be confronted by a thick layer of bureaucracy and the discovery that no uniform framework containing this information exists. It is no wonder that MEPs have recently highlighted the "deep crisis" within the European Commission’s internal monitoring body. So long as the EU continues to keep its head firmly in the sand over NGO funding, its image as peacemaker will dwindle among Israelis, further reducing its influence, as well as its credibility as an effective administrator. An independent examination of the chaotic NGO funding system would go some way to strengthening the EU’s management credentials and generating greater confidence among European voters."