London - The European Commission was yesterday accused of being "addicted to half-measures" in helping the world's poor.
The Commission was also condemned for its "delays and inefficiencies" in delivering aid to crisis-hit areas quickly.
Chairman of the Commons International Development select committee, Mr Bowen Wells, criticised the EC's aid policies as being "clearly determined more by political priorities than poverty alleviation". The Tory MP said the Committee was "exasperated with the failure of the Commission to reform its development activity effectively".
He also condemned the failure to deliver millions of pounds of aid to victims of Hurricane Mitch in South America.
Nearly two years later, EU officials have spent "not a single penny" of the aid package allocated for reconstruction in Nicaragua, he added.
