Anti-fraud raises questions on the distractions of Daphne in favour of Childfocus

"Given that the funds made available by the EU were intended to finance activities aimed at tracking down missing children and that these associations used the funds for purposes other than those for which the resources had been earmarked, does the Commission not consider that an inspection should be carried out to establish who was responsible for this misuse of funds?"

The written question was raised by Aldo PATRICIELLO, EU MP of the budgetary control commission, qualified in the questions raising from the examination of frauds and irregularities affecting the implementation of the budget of the Union, the actions aiming at the prevention of these acts, undertakement of legal proceedings, as well as the protection of the Union' financial interests in general.

The scandal came from Romania, when the reporters of the Jurnalul National discovered that five Rumanian associations Childfocus reffered in its directory "Childoscope" as being active in the search for missing and sexually exploited children, had never operated in this field. Childfocus had then simply answered not to be responsible for the quality of information given.

It happens that this directory is resumed by an ordinary Internet website, whose simple update was financed 200.000-euro by the European Union. Whereas one of the objectives was to offer an overall picture on the European civil organizations and a forum so that they can communicate between them, the majority of the NGO was unaware of being inscribed in it, and that most important ones are missing, even refused.

Childfocus had then given an official explanation, and a semi-official explanation. The first, although polite. The second, , aimed at drowning fish by serious deteriorations of the truth, aimed at attacking the honor of the Jurnalul, which had diffused the news in Eastern Europe, and of the Foundation Princess of Croÿ, which had diffused the information in Western Europe. Childfocus accused them of being "tabloïds", one pretending to seek missing children, the other inventing false networks of paedophiles and corruptions civil-servants.

The investigation continuing, it appeared that the Italian partner had constituted its association in March 2001, for this project inaugurated in May 2001, so as to eliminate the most respected Italian associations, in favour of people without experience, who since direct the "Italian National Center for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children". On the organizations of six countries represented in 2001, the directory financed by the European Union offers twelve identical descriptions, with the same sentences and the same spelling mistakes.

One thus understands that Mr. PATRICIELLO raises questions about the distractions of the Daphne Project, which could find an advantage to finance a word processing programme with reliable spell checker, for all these organizations so united in thoughts.

Will the information arrive to the sovereigns of the Belgians, so that the Queen, Childfocus' President of Honour, may consider the concerns of the European Parliament, or will Daniel Cardon and Jacques van Ypersele, respectively president de Childfocus and chief of the King' Cabinet, ounce more manage to occult the spine of the child welfare in Belgium?