Britain is poised to give tens of millions of pounds to 'poor' European countries despite fraud
Published: | Updated:
Britain is poised to give tens of millions of pounds to development funds for poorer EU countries which have financed fraudulent projects.
Under Andy Burnham's plan to cosy up with Brussels, the Government is preparing to put taxpayer cash into the aid schemes so the UK can rejoin the bloc's electricity market.
But the pots – including the so-called 'cohesion fund', designed to 'level-up' poorer EU regions by giving them money for infrastructure projects – have been repeatedly targeted by fraudsters.
Last year alone, there were 11 investigations into the cohesion fund by Olaf, the European anti-fraud office. In one case, it uncovered alleged fraud and forgery in documents for water supply and wastewater infrastructure projects in Romania, which involved EU funding worth more than €100million (£83million).
The cohesion fund provides support to poorer EU states, including Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia, to 'strengthen the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the EU'.
The EU is demanding Britain contribute to development funds in order for British energy companies to be allowed to trade freely in the EU's single market for electricity, according to a leaked draft joint EU-UK statement.
Under Andy Burnham's plan to cosy up with Brussels, the Government is preparing to put taxpayer cash into the aid schemes so the UK can rejoin the bloc's electricity market (the PM is pictured on Sunday)
But Government sources insisted the UK had not agreed to pay into the development funds and that negotiations on electricity market access would not conclude before the EU-UK summit later this month.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told the Daily Mail: 'Once again Burnham is planning to throw away taxpayer cash to the EU with no reward whatsoever. This is a betrayal of the British people.'
A Government spokesman said: 'We do not comment on leaks or provide a running commentary on live negotiations.'
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