Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-426"
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"Madam President, I would like to thank Members for their very useful comments. I shall try to group my response around three sets of issues. Firstly, short-term and long-term priorities, and how we can integrate the advice you have given us here. Secondly, the political environment and how we can protect the neutrality and independence of humanitarian work as well as the safety of humanitarian workers. Thirdly, the EU’s disaster response capacity and what we are currently doing to make sure that it is stronger in the future.
Obviously, the Commission has no lending capacity, so debt relief is not something that I can take a stand on from the point of view of what the Commission can do, but one of the options would be to look at Pakistan’s capabilities. We will make sure that your voice is heard as these options are discussed.
Similarly, there will be questions about trade and what can be done. I can tell you that Commissioner De Gucht is already very seriously looking into what we can offer through this holistic way of responding to the country’s problems.
Let me add one more point. We also have to work with Pakistan to support the government in the reforms they are undertaking in order to get the economy on to a more solid footing – including reforming how they organise their public finances and their budgets – so that the floods do not end up distracting the government from doing the right thing for its own people in the long term. That is also something we are discussing.
Of course, helping Pakistan is also a matter of political stability in a country that is so very important for its own region and for the rest of the world. In this sense, we very much hope that our collective action will not only save lives but also prevent chaos from erupting in this very sensitive place. In doing so, for those of us who care about the humanitarian side, it is also very important to always stress to the authorities – as I did when I was there – that the security of humanitarian workers is crucial.
The other side of that is for us to ensure neutrality. Who we help cannot be based on factors such as religion, gender, or rural or urban location. This matter of the neutrality and safety of humanitarian workers is profoundly important. 19 August was the day of humanitarian workers. On that day, sadly, we noted that last year, we lost more humanitarian workers than peacekeepers. 102 humanitarian workers died. In the context of Pakistan, every day I wake up with great anxiety as to whether a life will be lost in responding to this disaster. I just want to confirm that we take this very seriously.
Let me finish with the point about strengthening the EU’s disaster response. I am very grateful to those of you who spoke positively of what we have been doing with a view to being better organised and better coordinated. I am also grateful to those who say we need to do more, and I agree with that.
Let me give you just one example of what coordination means in the case of Pakistan. As I said, we deployed our civil protection coordination team in Pakistan. We got 12 Member States to provide in-kind assistance. We organised ten flights as an EU air bridge to Pakistan – two by the Czech Republic, one financed by Finland and seven co-financed by the Commission. We actually brought assistance on behalf of multiple countries in a coordinated fashion and then, in a coordinated fashion, we distributed it on the ground.
So progress is being made but, to those who say that more needs to be done, my response is ‘all power to your voice’. Hopefully, you will see from the Commission a very determined and ambitious way of approaching what it means to have a strong EU disaster response capacity.
Since this is a discussion we will be having in the future, I would sum it up very briefly in four points.
With regard to scenario planning, we need to be much better prepared in anticipating the types of disasters that are to come.
On the first set of issues, I am very much aligned with the comments that have been made in this House about ensuring that we focus on those at risk of being excluded. This especially concerns the more conservative areas of Pakistan, women, and, of course, children in women-led households, who are at very high risk, and minorities, including religious minorities, to which reference has been made here.
Secondly, we need pre-determined and committed assets from Member States on which we can rely when a disaster strikes. Whenever we have a disaster and I make a call for assistance, I do not know at the moment of the call whether or not I will get what is necessary. Luckily for me, so far, every time we have called on them, the Member States have come through, but it would be much more prudent if we could predict upfront what the commitment of the Member States is and what assets we have in hand.
My third point concerns strengthening coordination. I am not going to say more about that. Obviously, we need to get our 27 plus one to act as one.
Fourthly, we need a holistic approach to crisis response that incorporates prevention, preparedness, response and rehabilitation feedback.
These four points are the foundation of the proposal I would present to you.
Madam President and honourable Members, thank you again for your advice to me and my team.
In any country, including in this case Pakistan, those communities that are simply hard to reach are at particularly high risk. They are cut off either by nature or because of conflicts. I can assure you that we screen proposals from our partners very carefully to make sure that our funding, to a very large degree, targets those at risk of being excluded.
I will follow up with my staff in more detail the specific question that I was asked on the treatment of religious minorities. I do know that we consider minorities very carefully and I am sure we have more specific information on that, as well as on the situation in Kashmir. I can say that we have been working with NGO partners there to be able to reach out to people.
The point was strongly made here that agriculture is the foundation of a large part of Pakistani society and the Pakistani economy. As the water recedes, it may leave more fertile land, but that will only be an opportunity if we are there fast to help farmers recover their capacity to plant. As always in the case of a disaster, if the response is put together well, especially as regards longer-term rehabilitation, it can also bring improvements in terms of security.
That brings me to the point that was made about the need to look at raising funds from others. In other words, we should use our moral authority to urge others in the neighbourhood, the Gulf nations, to contribute to Pakistan. They have been doing that and it is true that the EU, having acted quickly and massively, does now have a capacity to call on others. We will continue to do so as we prepare for the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting here on 14 and 15 October. The High Representative, Vice-President Catherine Ashton, together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Minister Qureshi, are going to co-chair this meeting, and we have already agreed to have a special expanded session to try to raise attention, support the efforts of others and urge others to contribute.
As far as our Member States and our own resources are concerned, I can say the following. As regards the Commission’s resources, EUR 70 million has already been committed and a large part of it has already been disbursed. The week I was in Pakistan, we ran out of money for the urgent relief projects that we are supporting with very credible organisations and very competent people who operate on the ground. Our staff there have already made it clear that we will need to provide additional resources.
As regards the Member States, I want to pay tribute to the UK, Germany and Sweden. They are the biggest donors. In many cases, they have already delivered their assistance. The Commission and the Member States have a shared competence in this area. Of course, we are cooperating and we would like to see all our commitments fully deployed.
As far as the priorities for our longer-term response are concerned, it is very clear that the economic forecast for Pakistan will have to be revised downwards. In other words, the growth forecast for next year will drop from 4.5% before the floods to maybe 1%, or even to below zero. There has been massive destruction that has yet to be assessed, but it will be in the order of billions. Therefore, it will be necessary to mobilise support for Pakistan in a holistic way. That means that all possible options as to how the support can be provided will be looked into."@en1
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