EU Says Sierra Leone’s €18 Million Budget Support Delay Is Technical

The European Union has attributed the delayed disbursement of €18 million in budget support to Sierra Leone to technical reasons, while Dutch officials have offered a different account linking the payment to pressure over wanted Dutch drug trafficker Jos Leijdekkers.

Speaking after a meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers in Luxembourg on 1 October 2026, EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said the hold on the support was not based on the Leijdekkers case.

“When it comes to the suspension of the support, that’s due to technical reasons,” Brunner said.

Different explanations

Brunner separately expressed concern about drug trafficking and transnational organised crime, including countries that harbour wanted drug traffickers. He said action was needed against third countries that provide such refuge.

David Van Weel, the Netherlands’ Minister of Justice and Security, told Dutch media that the €18 million payment had been withheld as part of efforts to pressure Sierra Leone over Leijdekkers. Leijdekkers is described as a convicted Dutch cocaine trafficker wanted by European authorities, and the Netherlands has been seeking his arrest and extradition.

European Commission sources, as reported in the source material, disputed that characterization and said the formal basis for the funding hold was administrative rather than a sanction imposed over the case.

Sierra Leone’s position

The Government of Sierra Leone said the postponement followed the timing of its request to amend the Financing Agreement and the difficulty of completing the required procedures within the 2026 reporting cycle.

In a statement issued through the Ministry of Information and Civic Education on 1 October, the Government said the delayed 2026 payment did not represent a suspension of the broader relationship between Sierra Leone and the European Union.

The Government also said the decision was not taken because of discussions concerning any particular individual, citing indications it said had been given by EU representatives during subsequent engagements. It rejected portrayals of the July decision as a new punitive measure directly tied to the Leijdekkers case.

Proposed rescheduling

The European Commission proposed moving the 2026 and 2027 disbursements to 2027 and 2028 respectively. Van Weel said a further €22.5 million in EU support was expected in 2027 and could be affected if the dispute remained unresolved.

The Government said targets for the 2027 disbursement had already been agreed. The competing explanations leave unresolved whether broader political concerns about Leijdekkers influenced the funding decision beyond the formal technical and procedural grounds cited by the EU and Sierra Leonean authorities.