An €18 million European Union payment to Sierra Leone is on hold, but officials have offered conflicting explanations for the decision.
Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel said the payment was suspended to press Sierra Leone to arrest and hand over Jos Leijdekkers, a Dutch national convicted of cocaine trafficking. He also said a payment planned for next year could be affected if the country did not cooperate, Reuters reported.
EU Commissioner Magnus Brunner gave a different explanation. Speaking after a meeting of EU justice ministers on 1 October, he said the current hold on budget support was due to “technical reasons”. He did not provide further detail, according to EUobserver’s account of the briefing.
Sierra Leone disputes the reported link
Sierra Leone’s government said the European Commission had communicated its decision in July, before the latest public disagreement over Leijdekkers. According to the government, the issue concerned the timing of its request to amend a financing agreement and whether the required steps could be completed within the 2026 reporting cycle.
It said the Commission proposed moving this year’s payment to 2027 and next year’s payment to 2028. Those details are reported in the government’s clarification; Trivane has not independently examined the financing correspondence.
The criminal case remains unresolved
Leijdekkers was sentenced in his absence to 24 years in prison in the Netherlands for cocaine trafficking. Dutch authorities want him arrested and transferred. His reported presence in Sierra Leone has put the country under scrutiny, but the dispute over his case should not be treated as the established reason for the EU payment hold when an EU commissioner has said otherwise.
For Sierra Leone, the immediate question is when the €18 million will be paid. The wider question is whether cooperation over Leijdekkers will affect future EU support. The officials’ statements do not yet provide a single agreed answer to either issue.
