EU Commissioner Georgieva to EuroFora : EU Humanitarian Volunteers may serve EU Disaster Response
*Strasbourg/EU Parliament/Angelo Marcopolo/- Strong Popular Support and growing EU Citizens' trend to Volunteer to EU's Humanitarian action for Solidarity in the World, may usefuly be combined together with EU's Disaster Response Capacity, a kind of Civil Protection Force, mainly in order to help deploy on the spot the right ressources able to face or prevent/reduce major Hazards' risks anywhere it's needed to save Human Lives and socio-economic assets, replied EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Action and Disaster Response, dr. Kristalina Georgieva, to a question raised by "EuroFora" at her Press Conference in Strasbourg, together with EU Parliament's Rapporteur on Humanitarian missions, MEP Michèle Striffler, vice-President of the Development Committee, on the occasion of EU Commission's Policy paper for the creation of a European Humanitarian Volunteers' Corps, dealing with Selection, Training and Deployment, at the eve of the 2011 "EU Year of Volunteering".
- "The proposal for the creation of a European Civil Protection Force, or Strong EU Disaster Response Capacity, is a separate proposal" that "the (EU) Commission approved a Communication on strengthening EU's Disaster Response Capacity on October 26th (2010), and, there, it has established 5 Key-Steps to get Europe to be better prepared, better organized, in a case of a Disaster, either inside or outside of our (EU's) boundaries, so (that) we (EU) can Plan, Train and Deploy in the most effective way", replied to "EuroFora" EU Commissioner Georgieva.
"And, these Steps are :
(1) "to prepare Scenarios for Disasters, in other words, to Anticipate what may be happening, inside or outside Europe",
(2) "to Map out our (EU's) Capacity, so that we (EU) can be at clear Deployment mode, at any point of Time, vis a vis this Scenario", and
(3) "to ask (EU) Member States, voluntarily, to set or stand by modules for deployment",
(4) "to have Transport and Logistic arrangements upfront, (i.e., in order) not to improvise when the Disaster happens, and"
(5) "to create a European Emergency Response Centre , by merging the Monitoring and Information Center, that currently exists, with the Humanitarian Emergency Response Team, that also currently exists, bring them together, and strengthen them, so (that) we (EU) are better equiped to Coordinate our Actions".
"That was a Separate Communication" from "this one, (new Communication of today, November 23, 2010), on the (EU) Humanitarian Aid Corps, (which) is about a New platform for Volunteering, and is a response to the Fact that more and more Europeans want to volunteer. And the Aim is to Direct this Desire to Volunteer towards Humanitarian actions, as the Lisbon Treaty prescribes", she explained.
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- "The reason I gave you this Long Response on the 1st Proposal is that, potentialy, they could be linked", EU Commissioner agreed, smiling, with "EuroFora"'s suggestion.
F. ex. : - "If we (EU) are deploying Volunteers in a way which is Post-Disaster, or, even better, in Disaster Risk-Reduction (i.e. preventive : Comp. "EuroFora"s conclusions on Summer 2010 a.o. Extreme Weather Events), then, the Humanitarian Corps and our (EU's) Civil Protection Capabilities, will connect", indeed, she stressed. Even if "this is a Link to make in Deployment, not in Policy design".
I.e. "Ultimately, what do we (EU) want ? We (EU) want, when a Disaster hits, and, unfortunately, it is happening more and more often, we (EU) want to get exactly the Right Assistance, to exactly the Right Place, with an Absolute Minimum of Delay. And that, we know, is based on both Professionals and Volunteers. In this sense, the New Scheme may complement our Disaster Response communication", Kristalina Georgieva concluded.
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While the Disaster Response EU Capacity is apparently focused on building mainly High-Tech capabilities, the Humanitarian Volunteer schema may usefuly complement it for on the spot action by motivated People, showing EU's "Human Face" in the World, Kristalina Georgieva stressed earlier.
8 out of 10 EU Citizens are in favor of EU Humanitarian Aid out of its borders, and more than + 23% have been involved in some kind of Humanitarian action, while there is a growing trend of Popular Desire for Citizens' contribution to such Solidarity operations, she observed.
After the present Policy Paper and further consulation and testing, EU Commission is due to present a final Legislative draft Bill on 2012, she anounced.
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+ Meanwhile, EU Commissioner Georgieva has recently anounced an augmentation for + 20 Millions € more in EU Humanitarian assistance to Sahel Countries, reaching in all 74 Millions € (136 Millions $) for a semi-Desert area extending from Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, and Burkina Faso to Algeria, Chad and Sudan, as well as Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, but even Nigeria, Northern Mali and Cameroon.
She has also just urged EU Countries to respond to Haiti's demand for concrete help from Europe to fight against Cholera currently threatening fragile People Displaced since a Catastrophic Earthquake. This should be done particularly by sending Water Sanitation and Hygiene logistics, as well as Experts in Language and Training for Local populations. The move comes shortly after a Deadly Epidemic of South Asian origin curiously broke out in the Carribean island at Mexico's Gulf, which hadn't seen any cholera problems for more than a Century..
Even if, in this particular case, reportedly, the main need is not for more Money, as such, EU, in general, including f.ex. in Palestine, is by far the Biggest Donor in the World.
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Europe brings Development dynamics at Global Crisis' Summit debates
Thanks also to EU Parliament Plenary's Strasbourg gathering, EU, during the French EU Presidency, managed to integrate the Development issues at Top Debates on the World Summit against the Economic Crisis :
For the 1st time, it's at the same moment with the Wahington G-20 Summit that EU Commissioner Louis Michel co-organizes here with the French EU Presidency parallel mega-events for the "European Development Days", starting from this Week-End and concluding at the eve of a landmark debate in EU Parliament, next Tuesday, on the outcome and follow-up of the Wash.DC Summit.
EU and its Member Countries are the biggest donor for UNO's Millenium Development goals, with 56%, but the 27 are currently struggling to develop a collective leadership in Economic and social matters, that the 15 of EuroGroup (together with the UK and other countries interested to be usefully associated) are starting to spearhead, after the initial success of the 1st EuroZone Heads of State and Government Summit, of October 12 in Paris, according to a New Repport by MEPs Pervench Beres and Werner Langen on the 10 Years of EuroZone (1999-2009) debated Monday and voted on Tuesday.
EU, CoE and World personalities will interact here with Heads of State or Government from Tanzania (African Union chair), Burkina Faso (CEDEAO + UEMOA chair), Zimbabwe (MDC chair), Madagascar, Haiti, Mali, Benin, etc, and some 3000 participants from the Economy, Civil Society, Media, Experts, etc, while the City of Strasbourg adds various related Citizen-events.
Opened by French Secretary of State Alain Joyandet on November 15, and followed by a video-contact with EU Commission President Jose Baroso on the Washington Summit Sunday, the EDD are concluded by Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Monday, while their main concerns cannot be ignored in the Debate that EU Parliament will hold on Tuesday, (followed by a Resolution on Wednesday), jointly on the G-20 Washington Summit and on EU Commission's work program for 2009.
A practical opportunity for EU to reflect where it's better to spend EU Citizens' money...
The move is prolonged in several Paris' meetings of EU chair, French President Nicolas Sarkozy with African Heads of State leading regional Organizations, as from Tanzania (A.U. Chair), Burkina Faso (chair of Economic African organizations), Togo, etc, (in parallel with a Ministerial EU - African Union conference in Ethiopia, followed by a visit to Tchad), logically concluded by a meeting with Robert Zoellic President of the World Bank.
Many have already warned that an eventual aggravation of Development's Gap accross the World might become much more dangerous to Global Economy, Security, Values and Quality of Life, than Global Warming and/or other, even more serious challenges...
Will they find an innovative and voluntarist way to really deal with the Development Gap, which might also contribute to help face the Economic Crisis ?