Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Liesje Schreinemacher “should have gone much faster” to transfer emergency aid to Ukraine. This is what D66 MP Alexander Hammelburg said after the minister himself complained that the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development take a long time to provide emergency support to the country at war.
“Hurry up, because we’ve wired the money and it’s in an account,” Schreinemacher sneered earlier this week during a donor conference at financial institutions that she says are taking too long to transfer. However, MP D66 sees that the cause also belongs to Schreinemacher himself. “It wasn’t until October and November that he decided to send extra money to Ukraine for the winter. It was too late and could have been done months earlier,’ says Hammelburg.
It also notes that Schreinemacher himself decided to use financial institutions as intermediaries for emergency aid. “He could have done it another way, but he didn’t want to. These organizations are not wrong that they cannot send the money directly. They wonder why the money didn’t arrive sooner and why they waited so long.”
“Ukrainians are out in the cold”
Hammelburg blames the minister that the money may not be transferred to Ukraine until January. “The Minister should have run much faster much earlier. He should have prepared the money and made a commitment first. (…). The aid should have been ready before winter, but it may not arrive until January, February or perhaps March. This is of no use to the Ukrainians, they are left out in the cold.”
In total, the government has allocated 180 million euros to help Ukraine through the winter. Since the start of the invasion, the Netherlands has spent more than €1.5 billion assisting Ukraine.
Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
