Ramotar produces correspondence to debunk EU Ambassador’s comments
Wednesday, October 28 2015, Citizen’s Report, Source
FORMER president Donald Ramotar responded to Jernej Videtič, the European Union (EU) Ambassador, who contends that Guyana did not qualify for EU budgetary support grants and sought to contradict comments made by the former president. Ramotar not only defended his administration’s record by releasing correspondence between the EU and his government to support his position, but urged the Ambassador to get the facts before venturing public commentaries.
Ramotar said, “I have noted yesterday’s statement by the current EU Ambassador regarding the withholding of budget support grants due to Guyana by the EU and, in particular, the Ambassador’s suggestion that the grants were withheld because Guyana was not in compliance with the conditions required for disbursement. “
He added, “Guyana did meet the conditions required for disbursement of EU budget support grants,” he said, adding that the country qualified for the funds since 2014.
Ramotar charged that the new Ambassador ought to have acquainted himself with the facts of the matter before pronouncing publicly.
He said, “In January 2015, my Government issued a release stating as follows: ‘Government now wishes to make publicly available the attached communication from the same EU Delegation, dated 8 September 2014, indicating clearly that Guyana had met the eligibility criteria required to qualify for disbursements totalling €25,858,025, and that the same Delegation had recommended disbursement of this sum to the EU Budget Support Steering Committee in Brussels which was due to meet on 17 September 2014.”
According to the former president, at the time of the announcement in January, his Government pointed out that the EU Delegation had stated in writing that the conditions were fulfilled and had further stated in writing that they were recommending the disbursement of €25.9 million on the basis of their satisfaction with fulfilment of the required conditions.
“At the time of the January 2015 statement, it was further pointed out that Parliament was not prorogued until 10 November 2014, so the prorogation of Parliament could not possibly have been a basis for withholding a disbursement due since September 2014,” he said.
The former president explained that Guyana had qualified for the grants and encountered the first delays in their disbursement owing to concerns over the impasse with passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Amendment Bill
“I was advised that the reason for the delay was the impasse over the anti-money laundering legislation. No mention was made about the prorogation of Parliament, not surprisingly because prorogation was only to come much later, and no mention was made about any conditions not being met. The sole matter mentioned was the delay in passage of the anti-money laundering legislation,” he said.
Ramotar was emphatic in stressing that it cannot be disputed that Guyana did meet the conditions required for the disbursement of the EU budgetary support grants.
“The technical officers at the EU Delegation and the EU’s contracted technical experts were satisfied that these conditions were met, they confirmed this in writing to my Government at the time, but the disbursements were subsequently withheld with absolutely no legitimate basis. Indeed, with all that has transpired since, it is now evident that the withholding of these grants was an act of political interference,” he said.
As such, Ramotar maintained his position that Guyana had qualified for the budget support grants. “These were unjustifiably and arbitrarily withheld by the EU,” he said.
THE EMAIL STATES CORRESPONDENCE IS AS FOLLOWS:
From: SANDKER Ewout (EEAS-GEORGETOWN)
Date: Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 4:07 PM
Subject: Budget support payments
To: Ashni Singh
Cc: “KOPECKY Robert (EEAS-GEORGETOWN)”, “MADL Benedikt (EEAS-GEORGETOWN)”, Tarachand Balgobin, Sonya Roopnauth
Dear Minister,
This is to inform you that the Delegation has submitted a positive disbursement advice to its Headquarters with regard to the budget support tranches listed below. They will all be discussed for decision by our Budget Support Steering Committee on 17 September 2014.
If I am not mistaken it is the first time that the budget support disbursement requests for Guyana have been submitted this early in the second semester, maximizing the chances for payments within the budgetary year (as they are always subject to availability of payment credits). I believe this is illustrative for the good cooperation between your office, the line Ministries involved and the Delegation, for which I would like to express my appreciation.
I take the opportunity to thank you for providing us with detailed information on the non-legislative measures relating to CFATF recommendations, which I am sure our colleagues in Headquarters will find very useful and informative. As soon as we have been debriefed by our Headquarters we will let you know about the result of the Steering Committee.
Kind regards,
Ewout Sandker
PROJECTS:
10th EDF Sea Defences:
• Fixed tranche 2013: 2.8 Mio € – the Delegation recommended full payment based on fulfillment of general conditions
• Variable tranche 2014: 3.5 Mio € – the Delegation recommended payment of 2.905 based on fulfillment general criteria and of specific criteria 1 and 2 (except for sub-indicator on the condition survey not reaching the required length surveyed).
Sugar AAP 2012:
• Variable tranche: 2. 784 Mio € – recommended for full payment based on fulfillment of general conditions and indicators 3 and 8
Sugar AAP 2013:
• Fixed tranche 6.9 Mio € – – the Delegation recommended full payment based on fulfillment of general conditions
• Variable tranche 12. 075 Mio – the Delegation recommended payment of 10,469,025 based on fulfillment of the general conditions and indicators 1,3,4,6,8. Indicator 5a was not considered fully met as the foreseen investment of the whinch system at Skeldon was not done during the foreseen time.
Total: The Delegation recommended payment of 25,858,025 EUR.
