Tag: humanitarian aid

Libya's humanitarian crisis is starting to affect vulnerable people across the world, Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said yesterday (28 February), warning that the effects of rising oil prices were already being felt in the food sector and threatening to push millions into hunger.

Despite the slow pace of reconstruction in disaster-stricken Haiti, the international community must continue to help build up its institutions rather than take over, EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva told EurActiv in an interview.

Humanitarian aid coming from EU member states is becoming increasingly driven by politics, making multilateral donors such as the EU more apt at addressing recipients' needs, according to a report presented by a UN official on Tuesday (7 December).

With natural disasters on the rise on a global scale but also in Europe, the European Commission presented plans yesterday (26 October) to reinforce the Union's capacity to respond to civil protection and humanitarian crises.

Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said yesterday (18 August) that she would strive to make sure that the EU, which is usually the biggest donor in disaster areas, sees its flag fly. She claimed this had not been possible so far because humanitarian organisations responsible for distributing EU aid had insisted on pushing their brand instead.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova yesterday (17 February) broke new ground with the EU for enhanced cooperation with the United Nations' educational, scientific and cultural organisation. Her compatriot Kristalina Georgieva, the EU commissioner for humanitarian aid, outlined joint action to help alleviate the Haiti crisis.

Pressure is mounting on the European Union to 'fly the flag' in Haiti, with the country seemingly becoming a test case for showcasing the bloc's revamped institutions under the Lisbon Treaty.

"The EU has to restructure its failed strategy [in Gaza] and seek to bring the new US administration to a similar re-appraisal and policy change," argue Michael Emerson and Richard Youngs, associate senior research fellows at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), and Natalie Tocci, senior research fellow at the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome, in a January CEPS report.

The Finnish Presidency of the EU has called an emergency meeting of European Foreign Affairs Ministers to discuss the escalating violence in the Middle East. 

The EU's foreign affairs, development and health ministers have agreed that, following the short-term humanitarian relief efforts, the focus should now shift to the rehabilitation and long-term reconstruction of the tsunami-hit regions.

The Dutch Presidency sends representatives from the new Member States to visit development projects in Uganda and Vietnam.