EUROPEAN COMMISSION: FERRERO-WALDNER TO TAKE SOLE CHARGE OF EUROPEAID.

Under the old arrangement, the then External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten was chairman of the board while development Commissioner Poul Nielson was chief executive. Development NGOs have criticised the decision to remove from the Development Commissioner direct responsibility for EuropeAid, which is in charge of approving projects and granting funds for programmes under the EU's Euro 3 billion budget for external actions and the European Development Fund.

Louise Hilditch, head of the European Regional Office for ActionAid International, a leading development campaign group, said: "We think that the Commissioner for policy should also be responsible for implementation. Lots of difficulties in the last commission were to do with the split between DG Development and (EuropeAid) and we think these will only be exacerbated by this change".

A spokesman for Development Commissioner...