Managua — A group of senior EU officials will visit Nicaragua in September to negotiate lifting restriction on a financial aid to the country, French ambassador to Managua Thierry Fraysse said on Wednesday.

The EU halted 100 million dollars of direct budget support for the
Nicaraguan government after opposition parties complained of fraud during the November 2008 municipal elections.

Fraysse said it was very important that the next Nicaraguan elections have domestic and international observers at all levels and that such observation would be a good signal and the key to the free flow of EU’s aid.

On Tuesday, Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister Samuel Santos said the nation was negotiating with the EU on the issue and the negotiations were going in the right direction.