EU foreign affairs and development ministers will meet for an extraordinary council on 7 January to co-ordinate efforts in the wake of the tsunami disaster in Asia. With a record 1.5bn euros having been pledged by the Commission and EU member states, lack of funds is not the immediate problem. However the follow-up and co-ordination on the ground is set to be a major challenge.
This prompted a warning from Louis Michel, the commissioner for development, who was travelling in the affected region: "We must be very careful not to enter a beauty contest where we compete on who has the highest number. I am interested by promises that lead to actual spending," said Michel, while insisting that he was not challenging the sincerity of pledges.
The concerns were echoed in a statement by the Australian branch of Oxfam, the aid NGO that warned against false promises and "not to repeat the mistakes of the past and instead to commit to a comprehensive package of aid, debt relief and trade concessions for the countries affected by the tsunami disaster".
The European Commission has pledged a total aid package of 450 million euros to address both immediate needs and the longer term reconstruction of infrastructure in the Asian costal communities affected. Individual EU countries such as Germany and the UK have pledged approximately 500m euros and 73m euros respectively.
Speaking at the special ASEAN donor conference in Jakarta on 6 January 2004, EU Commission President Barroso pointed to the need for a "seamless transition" from the current humanitarian support to the second longer term phase of rehabilitation and reconstruction. "While final reconstruction costs will only be known when the needs assessments currently underway are finalised in March, it is clear that the bill will be huge and the task will span several years," said Barroso.
