EU Withholds OACPS Secretariat Funding After Audits, While Separate Partnership Programmes Continue

The European Commission has not resumed financial support to the Secretariat of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), even after audits of its use of EU funds were completed. The Commission says the reviews identified missing supporting documents and expenditure it considers ineligible, while exchanges over disputed costs and the closure of relevant contracts remain unfinished.

At an official Commission briefing on 28 October 2026, spokesperson Guillaume Mercier said the audits had been finalised and that a procedure allowing the Secretariat to contest or clarify findings was under way. He also said the European Court of Auditors had launched a separate audit, with its findings being considered in the contract-closure process. He did not announce a final recovery figure, identify individual responsibility or give a date for funding to restart.

The suspension is not new. At a 21 February 2025 Commission briefing, a spokesperson said EU funding to the Secretariat was already suspended because provisional audits received in November 2024 had identified irregularities. The Commission said further support depended on resolving financial-management concerns. Figures and allegations about employee school allowances and future funding were raised by a journalist in that 2025 exchange; the Commission did not independently confirm those specific claims in its response.

What the organisation's records show

The OACPS 2025 annual report describes serious financial and staffing constraints on Secretariat operations. It also says that in June 2025 the European Commission resumed management of several programmes following organisational changes within the Secretariat. That account provides an institutional response and administrative context, not an admission of fraud or a quantification of the disputed EU expenditure.

The Commission's own international-partnerships website documents a final event for the OACPS Research and Innovation Programme held in Brussels on 20–21 May 2026. A separate Commission programme page lists an ACP Business-friendly initiative, involving the OACPS Secretariat and implemented by other organisations, with an end date of October 2027. These records show why suspension of financial support for Secretariat operations must not be presented as termination of all EU cooperation involving OACPS countries. They do not, on their own, prove particular payments were made during the suspension or establish the legal status of individual grants.

What remains unanswered

The underlying audit reports, relevant grant and contract numbers, the current amount of any recoverable expenditure, and the final disposition of contested costs have not been obtained for this report. The Commission has acknowledged measures taken by new OACPS leadership to strengthen administrative and financial management. The Secretariat's detailed response to the individual audit findings has not yet been independently obtained.

An OACPS website search index also describes a 2026 internal-audit consultancy tender under reference ACP/001/26/GO/RNT. The original page currently returns an error and neither a signed contract nor an award notice has been verified. The tender cannot therefore be treated as proof of completed remedial action or of procurement misconduct.

The documented conclusion is narrower than an allegation of criminal fraud: EU support to the Secretariat remains suspended following identified audit deficiencies, while the final accounting and any individual responsibility remain unresolved.