EU to map out aid strategy
The European Union will today begin mapping out a strategy of longer-term economic and financial assistance for Asian nations hit by the tsunami, as humanitarian aid pours into the region.
The EU’s foreign, health and development ministers were to assess economic and other needs and see how long-term EU help can be put to best use.
The EU yesterday pledged a further €100m in humanitarian aid, on top of an initial pledge of €23m. The 25-nation bloc also promised €350m in reconstruction aid and €1bn in soft loans from the European Investment Bank.
“We are already thinking of reconstruction,” EU spokeswoman Francoise Le Bail said ahead of today’s meeting. “We know that that will cost an enormous amount of money.”
Officials said the EU ministers were to look at a raft of proposals, including setting up a rapid reaction disaster relief force that could include doctors, nurses, engineers, military personnel and other relief workers.
The idea of an EU rapid reaction relief force is not new. To date, however, it has never been acted on and Le Bail said “that perhaps with this (tsunami) disaster we will now be able to move forward”.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has proposed pairing European cities together with Asian ones hit by the disaster to facilitate the transfer of aid.
EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini has suggested making it easier for Europeans to adopt or become foster parents for orphaned children in the disaster areas.
Debt relief is also on the agenda as are soft loans enabling stricken regions to build new roads, railways and water supply installations. EU officials will also discuss giving more funds to the World Health Organisation, which has warned that about 150,000 people are at “extreme risk” if a major disease outbreak in the affected areas happens.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, said Europe must show solidarity, saying Asia’s suffering “is our suffering”.
EU officials said the European Parliament must still approve the new aid pledges the EU head office announced but was confident that would happen, as soon as next week.
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