The Foreign Affairs Council, chaired by the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, discussed the coordination of the Union's overall response to the earthquake in Haiti.
To recall, after the earthquake struck, the Union immediately mobilised search and rescue teams and earmarked EUR 122 million from the Commission and the Member States combined for urgent humanitarian assistance and a further EUR 100 million for the urgent restoration of government capacity in Haiti, as well as EUR 200 million for longer-term development.
The Council focused in particular on the coordination of the Union's overall response to the disaster in the different fields of humanitarian assistance, reconstruction and development aid and the contribution by Member States of military and security assets as well as civil protection resources for the relief effort.
In addition to the immediate humanitarian and development aid earmarked at the emergency Council on 18 January 2010, it agreed that Member States would provide a collective EU contribution of at least 300 police personnel as a temporary reinforcement of the police capability of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). This would include contributions by EU Member States that are part of the European Gendarmerie Force. (France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Spain are members of the European Gendarmerie Force).
In addition, the Council also agreed to set up a cell - EUCO Haiti - in Brussels to coordinate contributions by Member States of military and security support in response to the UN appeal. The purpose of this cell would be to match contributions to needs and maximise the speed and efficiency of the Union's response, avoiding duplication. EUCO Haiti will complement the coordination of the Member States' civil protection contributions by the European Commission Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC).
The Council has also agreed to provide:
· engineering expertise and equipment to open routes in order to facilitate the delivery of aid;
· maritime logistical capacity able to operate without port facilities.
Lastly, the High Representative echoed several ministers in pointing to the need to ensure that appropriate assistance was given to children in Haiti, particularly those orphaned by the disaster.