The Committee
on Development adopted the report drafted by Iva ZANICCHI (EPP, IT) which
contains a proposal for a European Parliament recommendation to the Council
on setting up an EU rapid response capability.
Members recall
that the multiplication of major disasters (natural/man made) outside the
European Union in recent years has led to increased calls to improve the
effectiveness of the existing EU disaster response capacity. The multiplication
and greater frequency of interventions inside and outside the European Union
are compounded by the global financial situation and budgetary constraints
which underline the need for more cost effective operations.
Progress has
been made in recent years towards a more coherent EU disaster response,
notably through progressive strengthening of the civil protection mechanism.
The European Union's response to the earthquake in Haiti triggered not only a
rapid, significant and large scale humanitarian aid intervention but also the
activation of the civil protection mechanism which was able to deploy
immediately and for the first time two modules (a water purification unit and
an advanced medical post) financed through a 2008 Preparatory Action for an
EU rapid response capability. Lessons learned from recent crises continue to
demonstrate the need to improve the EU’s disaster response in terms of
efficiency, coordination and visibility.
However,
Members consider that these disasters have once again highlighted the need
for an EU rapid response capability (European civil protection force).
Against this
background, the committee addresses the following recommendations to the
Council:
- it urges the
Council to strengthen the EU’s disaster response capacity as a high
priority, especially in view of the discussions on setting up an EU
Civil Protection Force, and to follow up the European Parliament’s
repeated requests that the proposals put forward in the Barnier report
in 2006 should be implemented;
- it calls for
the immediate establishment of an EU Civil Protection Force which must
be adequately equipped with the necessary technological and technical
resources;
- calls also,
in the context of operations following a natural disaster, for better
coordination between the humanitarian agencies and the civil protection
mechanisms of the Member States and DG ECHO, and any future European
civil protection force;
- it urges the
Commission to develop programs with national governments, local
authorities and civil society organisations in beneficiary countries
with regard to community-based disaster prevention and response
management capacity;
- it encourages
the Council to adopt, under the ordinary legislative procedure, measures
(to be proposed by the Commission) for improving the predictability and
the forward-planning capacity of the current EU civil protection
mechanism, which is currently based on ad-hoc and voluntary
contributions from Member States: these measures may include
arrangements tested under the EU Preparatory Action including EU-level
assets, voluntary pooling of resources, mapping of existing capacities,
identification of scenarios and the development of further training
activities;
- it calls
also for realistic budgets in which appropriations for natural disasters
or humanitarian action are allocated on the basis of previous years'
spending.
On a
structural and financial level, the European civil protection force should be
based on:
- the
commitment by some Member States to voluntarily make available
pre-determined civil protection modules that are ready to intervene
immediately in EU operations coordinated by the MIC, that most of these
modules, which are already available nationally and thus would not
entail significant additional costs, would remain under their control,
and that the deployment of these modules placed on standby would form
the nucleus of the EU’s civil protection system for responding to
disasters inside and outside the EU;
- the
provision of additional civil protection modules which could be financed
by the EU for certain specific requirements where gaps have been
identified and where the European level would add value, and stresses
the importance of increasing funding for transport and developing
standby transport modules;
- the need to
develop a comprehensive and proactive approach in response to disasters,
coordinating the various means of action available to the Union and its
Member States, such as crisis management(civil and
military), financial assistance and development or social and
environmental policies. The committee believes in this context that the
transition between disaster response and post-disaster reconstruction
should be managed more efficiently.
Others
proposals are outlined in the report. They suggest:
- setting up a
European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps in accordance with the
provisions of the Lisbon Treaty (Article 214(5));
- providing localised
coordination efforts, in cooperation with the national government of the
affected state, using EU and Member States' representatives on the
ground to ensure a targeted and competent response to affected
localities;
- that
operations be conducted in compliance with the principles of
international law and with the principles of impartiality, neutrality
and non-discrimination;
- clarifying
the arrangements for cooperation and coordination between the European
External Action Service (EEAS) and the Commission for the management of
a large-scale disaster response outside the territory of the European
Union;
- cooperation
on the implementation of a visibility action plan that should include
concrete measures to enhance the visibility of the EU’s disaster
response;
- using the
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) system to keep
potential crisis areas under surveillance.
Lastly,
Members remind the Council that the use of military assets and capabilities
in disaster response, particularly for logistics, transport and
infrastructure support for humanitarian aid operations, should be
exceptional, used as a ‘last resort’ and always in compliance with existing
agreements. Military means often constitute an important contribution to
disaster response, along with civil protection and humanitarian aid, and
notes that military assets can be necessary for filling critical capacity
gaps (particularly strategic lift, specialised assets, heavy engineering and
transport). They therefore stress the need to develop a comprehensive
approach and to improve synergies between civil and military capabilities,
and to identify areas in which Member States can pool their efforts and
capabilities at EU level to contribute to EU disaster response, which is
particularly important in a difficult economic climate. The report emphasises
the need to build up permanently available civilian capabilities in the EU
which operate independently from military structures and to identify areas in
which Member States can pool their efforts and capabilities at EU level in
this respect.