European aid: sleepy island is an aid cash row "The moment we arrived in Cyprus, it became apparent that the project's reconciliation angle was a non-starter, even a joke for some," said Dr Flynn, who has worked extensively on the Northern Ireland peace process. It was a donor economy I found myself in, a colossal waste of public money, and everybody knew it. The stated intention of the funding was dead on arrival from the start. The sheer volume of uncoordinated aid has actually incentivised an unending peace process. Cyprus has been divided ever since the Turkish Army invaded in 1974. The northern third of the island remains occupied by Turkey and is not recognised by the international community. There has been no fighting or other violence since the invasion. "Peace talks," supported by an extensive infrastructure of EU, UN and US aid, started sporadically in the late 1970s and became more intense towards the end of the last decade. However, the researchers found that "very little was achieved despite the large number of meetings," with neither side seriously interested in changing a "very comfortable status quo." Both sides now enjoy highly advanced economies but have developed entirely separately since the division. The researchers found that there was no real demand among ordinary people on either side for this to change, while the peace talks themselves had become "divorced" from everyday politics. "There are only so many catered receptions, paid for by aid money, that one can attend before starting to question why the taps have not been turned off for a peace process going nowhere, where there is no actual violence, and both sides are affluent," said Dr Flynn. "There's a small group of the 'usual suspects," which is how they are often referred to in Cyprus, going back for project after project. It's a merry-go-round of people - you spend a week there and you know who all the main players are. All the same people apply and reapply. There is a whole industry of these gatekeepers, project managers and funding recipients who know the rhetoric and can play the game. The researchers concluded that "there is a stratum within Cypriot society within both communities that has become dependent on the division for its livelihood and status the sheer volume of uncoordinated aid gets in the way of progress or incentives to move forward." Dozens of consultants in Cyprus and elsewhere are supported by the aid programmes. Figures seen by The Sunday Telegraph show that average remuneration on some projects is up to £400 a day with a further £200 for living expenses. At least £100 million has been spent by the EU on the Cyprus peace process, of which Britain's share is about £15 million. A further £150 million has been spent on a UN "peacekeeping force" even though no shot has been fired since 1974. You know how sclerotic institutions can be. Cyprus has become part of the UN's institutional furniture," said Dr King. They have a whole golf course in the military buffer zone for their use, that's how hot the conflict is. It's a plum posting. Meanwhile, UN peacekeeping operations in genuinely unstable areas which have suffered far more recent conflict, such as South Sudan, have been ended. The two researchers, whose own project cost £170,000, delivered their report to EU Aid in February, almost eight months ago, but decided to go public after getting no response to their concerns. "The findings we came out with are perhaps unpopular, but they are accurate," said Dr Flynn. We printed dozens and dozens of copies of the report, and we've had nothing back from EU Aid. It is really weird, really strange. The EU Aid people don't seem to want to meet with me. Several of the consultants concerned refused to comment to The Sunday Telegraph last night. A spokesman for EU Aid said the Flynn/King report was "under consideration." The EU Aid budget, of which Britain's Department for International Development contributes 15 per cent, or around £1.4 billion, has come under heavy criticism in the UK for sending aid to countries such as Iceland. As revealed by The Sunday Telegraph, EU aid has also helped pay for a holiday resort in Morocco and a Turkish television channel. At last week's Conservative Party conference, International Development Secretary Justine Greening criticised the EU for misusing British aid and called for a review of the EU aid budget. She echoed the complaints of her ministerial colleague, Alan Duncan, who told The Sunday Telegraph: "We are forced to give money to the European Union. We ask them to focus aid on poverty but they don't, and we have no choice in the matter. As for Cyprus, at least it can look forward to another 40 years of peace. But, with violence and social unrest sweeping parts of southern Europe because of the euro crisis, some will ask whether the latest recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize will be so lucky.