Brussels, 02/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - With the member states of the EU in complete disarray due to the exceptional influx of migrants and refugees, the European Commission on Wednesday 2 March proposed that the EU adopt an emergency aid mechanism which will allow it to react more quickly to large-scale humanitarian crises on its own territory.
In so doing, the Commission is responding to calls by the European Council of 18 and 19 February for proposals to this effect, and the draft regulation of the Council, approved on Tuesday by the college of commissioners, will allow an unprecedented financial instrument, to be known as EURO ECHO, to be set in place.
With the aim to get it up and running as quickly as possible, as the Commission calls for, it will concentrate the expertise and experience acquired by ECHO, the EU's humanitarian aid and civil protection service which works in favour of vulnerable populations in third countries, but without eating into the budget of ECHO (contrary to what we incorrectly stated in EUROPE 11502).
“We don't yet know which headings of the budget we will be able to take the funds from”, a senior EU official said on Tuesday. However, over the next few weeks, the Commission will make a proposal to the Parliament and the Council, of the budgetary authority, for an amending budget to create a budgetary line (under Heading 3, 'Actions within the EU', without exceeding the upper limits of the multi-annual budget).
This instrument is expected to have an envelope of €700 million for the next three years. This amounts corresponds to the estimated humanitarian needs. On Tuesday 1 March, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) issued a warning of imminent humanitarian crisis in Greece and accused Europe of having “largely brought about this crisis itself” by failing to implement the relocation plans it agreed and by failing to act when the member states closed their borders.
Responding to the humanitarian needs of migrants trapped in Greece and preventing similar prices in the countries of the Western Balkans are priorities. For 2016, the initial amount of €300 million is earmarked, plus €200 million in 2017 and €200 million the year after. Given that Greece has pledged to accommodate 50,000 refugees and that the 10,000 to 12,000 migrants trapped on the border with Macedonia require emergency humanitarian aid, this assistance will largely go to Greece to cover immediate basic needs in terms of food, basic health care, shelter, drinking water, basic necessities, in coordination with the member states and the partner humanitarian organisations of the European Commission on the ground: United Nations agencies, International Red Cross, international and national NGOs with which ECHO already has financing agreements in place (200 humanitarian partners in all).
“As I speak now, refugees are continuing to arrive in the EU seeking safety and dignity. Since the start of the crisis, the member states have struggled to cover the humanitarian needs of the migrants, although their number and needs are increasing. We need to respond to these requirements, we have to be ready to react resolutely”, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, told the European press. Aid in kind, cash and vouchers, as is the practice in Turkey, could be extremely useful to safeguard the refugees' dignity, whilst helping the local host communities, which will be able to sell their products to the refugees, the Commissioner said.
He described this initiative of the Commission as “a European response based on solidarity and humanity” which will be able to top up the actions of the member states whose capacities have been exceeded. “On its own, however, this emergency support will not solve the problem. More than ever, the member states need to work hand in hand with the EU to bring a united response to human suffering. The only solution to this crisis is a European one. This new instrument will reduce the refugees' suffering, but it is not a miracle solution. We need to tackle the causes of the crisis, in Syria, in Iraq, in Afghanistan”, he warned.
The Commissioner went on to say that he was soon to meet with the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, and that he was already confident that the “Parliament will come to our assistance to assure that the refugees get what they are entitled to expect as soon as possible”. He thanked the Parliament and Council for being “manifestly motivated by the same intentions as we are”.
Guy Verhofstadt, president of the ALDE group of the EP, has already welcomed this initiative, but with one misgiving. “This fund is a good thing, but it is by no means a solution. The refugee crisis will be a lasting phenomenon and only a long-term European approach will provide solutions. Greece must not become Europe's dumping ground for refugees”, he stressed in a press release.
The Commission's proposal is based on article 122, paragraph 1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which provides for a Council decision-making process by qualified majority. The Commission calls upon the Council to take a decision rapidly.
The mobilisation of the money may happen quickly, but it will be subject to a prior request for assistance by the member states requiring aid. Beyond the current migration crisis, EURO ECHO will be in place to react quickly to any disaster with large-scale humanitarian consequences in the EU. The draft regulation also provides for the possibility of bearing the financing of rescue operations interested to various partners, including the specialist humanitarian agencies of other member states. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)