The European Union set up its TACIS and PHARE programs five years ago to aid the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. When the two programs were launched, they focused on providing emergency food and transport aid. Since then, they have expanded and evolved to embrace hundreds of separate projects in 25 countries. Recent reports, however, criticize their effectiveness.

Under a mandate from the European Parliament, independent consultants prepared so-called interim evaluations in August. At the same time, the EU's Luxembourg-based Court of Auditors carried out audits of the two programs. Significant overlap was uncovered in the two aid programs. In theory, PHARE helps Central and Eastern Europe, while TACIS is designed for the former Soviet Union, except for the Baltics. But in practice, the two often duplicate each other.

Worse, almost two-thirds of the aid money goes to highly paid Western consultants, including wealthy multi-national consulting and accounting groups. Those expensive consultants do not even record their working hours, the Court of Auditors complained. In particular, consultants working in Ukraine did not bother "to warn their superiors of the alarming situation in the nuclear-power stations."

The auditors found that, because of the heavy use of consultants, the aid money produced few concrete, lasting results. "About 80 percent of PHARE projects managed on a decentralized basis are spent on contracts for services, supplies, or work," the report concluded. Also, EU officials prefer to stay in comfortable Brussels rather than resettle in the countries receiving the aid.

The supposed benefactors of the EU's are furious. One Russian member of parliament told EU investigators. "TACIS programs are supervised now by foreign specialists whose work is paid at the expense of funds allocated for our country.... In fact, TACIS [is helping solve] the problem of unemployment in the EU."

Bureaucratic bumbling means that much money approved by the EU's political leaders is never spent. PHARE still has not managed to disburse $2.2 billion. Nonetheless, PHARE's budget is scheduled to rise from $1.4 billion in 1997 to $1.76 billion in 1999.

TACIS's budget is about half that amount, even though the countries in TACIS are more backward than their neighbors in PHARE. But the EU Court of Auditors noted in its report that only a third of the $180 million allocated to improve Ukrainian nuclear safety has been disbursed.

Months are needed to get EU programs up and running, but many of the countries receiving the aid are moving fast toward market economies. The EU's TACIS Interim Evaluation report acknowledged that "most projects are outdated even before the tenders make their bids and strategy proposals." At the same time, it notes that "poor projects are rarely terminated." Only 10 TACIS projects were canceled owing to poor performance. But 80 programs were able to run their full course, despite signs they had failed to reach their interim objectives. The two programs are funding too many separate projects, the report concluded.

PHARE and TACIS official are pledging to change their ways in response to such criticism. "This is a wake-up call," an unnamed PHARE official admitted. "We realize that our program has to be revised." PHARE officials say that in the future only projects costing more than $2.2 million will be approved in the hope that fewer larger projects will be easier to control than numerous smaller ones.

Instead of continuing to divide funds into 13 areas, PHARE will focus on funding infrastructures. For example, the main Berlin to Warsaw highway will be improved. Up to 70 percent of the overall program will be spent on such projects. A second priority will be preparing Central and Eastern European recipients to join the EU. Money will go toward computerizing customs facilities and upgrading other public institutions to meet EU standards.

The poor -- or even nonexistent -- image of the two programs has also been sharply criticized. Some PHARE and TACIS officials would like to change the programs' names to something more recognizable, such as "Europa." When the Rowland Company's contract to promote the two programs ran out this summer, a new public relations firm was hired for the job.

EU COMMISSION PROPOSES $92.6 MILLION AID FOR CHORNOBYL. The EU's Executive Commission on 3 September proposed 100 million ECU in aid ($92.6 million) to help Ukraine repair the concrete sarcophagus around the damaged nuclear reactor at Chornobyl, RFE/RL reported. That sum is the EU's share of an aid package promised at the June summit of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations. An EU commission spokesperson told RFE/RL that safety precautions and the plant's eventual closure are expected to dominate talks between top EU officials and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in Kyiv on 5 September. Disbursement of the EU aid requires formal approval from EU finance ministers. The cost of making the Chornobyl reactor safe in the aftermath of the 1986 explosion has been estimated at $750 million. G-7 countries have pledged support worth $300 million.

ENVIRONMENT MINISTERS GATHER IN POLAND. Environment ministers from Poland, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine on 4 September gathered in the Polish city of Torun, RFE/RL's Warsaw correspondent reported. The ministers are expected to sign a cooperation agreement on environmental preservation, waste processing, ecological education, and soil and air pollution.

CHISINAU CONDEMNS FOREIGN PRESENCE AT TIRASPOL ANNIVERSARY. The Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned parliamentary deputies from other countries who joined in Tiraspol's 2 September Independence Day celebrations. In a statement issued 3 September, the ministry said leftist politicians from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine have complicated the situation in the breakaway region by encouraging the idea of independent statehood for the self-proclaimed Transdniestr Republic. The statement singled out Oleg Mironov, a Communist Party deputy in the Russian State Duma, who was quoted by the Infotag news agency as saying that "Russia is interested in the Transdniestrian Republic's existence and will promote its international recognition."