(Kurdish Media) – Christian Democrat MEP Albert Jan Maat has asked the European Commission questions about the distribution the 160 million euro in funds approved for the distribution in Iraq by the European Commission. These questions, which regarded the Assyrian Christians of Iraq, were as follows: “The Commission has decided that 160 million EUR can be devoted to the reconstruction of Iraq . What guarantees can the Commission give that religious minorities can benefit from these funds on the basis of proportionality?” “Is the Commission aware that Assyrian Christians are systematically excluded from the distribution of aid by local leaders?” MEP Maat cited an element of religious favoritism as a root cause of the lack of aid being received by the Assyrians, stating, “International aid is mainly distributed through regional, and therefore Muslim, leaders and seldom or never reaches the Assyrians.” The Christians of Iraq formerly had one representative on the Iraqi Governing Council, Younadam Kanna of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM). Previous to the war, the United States recognized the ADM as one of the eight significant parties in opposition to Iraq ’s Ba’athist dictatorship.