Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-04-Speech-1-135"
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"en.20000904.9.1-135"2
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"Mr President, throughout the world, development aid is giving way to humanitarian aid. Even here, the Directorate-General for External Relations is gradually taking charge of the areas that were formerly the responsibility of the Directorate-General for Development, with humanitarian aid compensating for the failures of external policy.
It is not just a question of providing aid, but also of restoring balance in the use of natural resources among all of the world’s inhabitants. Unfortunately, humanitarian aid cannot play this role and must not serve only to bail out a liberal policy which at the same time murders the populations of the countries in receipt of aid. Sustainable development is all but absent from the European Union’s humanitarian policy – we are quite unprepared for natural disasters and do little to prevent conflicts. Systematic training in how to deal with earthquakes and floods as well as in preventing violence would be welcome in many parts of the world. Instead of this, the European Union always reacts too late – once the disaster has been declared.
This lack of planning can be seen in the programmes of aid for health and nutrition, and gender issues are also ignored. The connection between humanitarian and development policy, although crucial, is systematically missing. It is important not to do just what is strictly necessary, but to prevent the effects of these catastrophes, and first of all, the factor that makes them worse, which is poverty. We hope that cross-sector posts will be created in order to link ECHO and the Directorate-General for Development. These could also initiate cooperation with other worldwide organisations in the field of humanitarian aid, beginning with those in Member States, since there is a considerable lack of coordination in their actions.
It is equally important that operating and assessment costs do not exceed 20% of ECHO’s budget. Payments must also be made more rapidly. Venezuela has been waiting since last December for the aid it was promised. Even if we are satisfied overall with the European Union’s humanitarian policy, and if we are generally happy with Mr Imbeni’s report, this policy must, to a greater extent, be in keeping with sustainable development."@en1
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