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.