Speaking to MEPs on the European Parliament’s Development Committee (DEVE) on Tuesday 2 December, Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, announced that she would be leading work on “a new communication” from the EU on humanitarian aid.
“We must remain a principled and reliable donor and defender of our core values and strong supporter of the multilateral humanitarian system”, said Ms Lahbib, noting the multiplicity and intensity of crises around the world and the lack of funding to deal with them.
The European Commissioner presented a three-pronged approach: protecting humanitarian workers, improving the effectiveness of EU-funded programmes and strengthening partnerships, particularly with development banks and the private sector.
Ms Lahbib announced the preparation of three working documents designed to give substance to the “ambitious agenda” she is calling for. One will focus on humanitarian diplomacy, another on a strategic humanitarian supply chain and a third on an integrated approach to fragility by the EU.
Humanitarian aid within the ‘Europe in the World’ instrument of the next MFF. In a draft report approved by the DEVE Committee on Tuesday morning, MEPs opposed merging the EU’s humanitarian aid instrument with the ‘NDICI-Europe in the World’ into a single ‘Europe in the World’ instrument under the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034 (see EUROPE 13683/1).
They urge the European Commission to maintain separate budget lines and instruments in order to preserve the neutrality, independence and impartiality of aid, enhance transparency and guarantee a sufficiently endowed emergency reserve (see other news).
However, on Tuesday afternoon, Ms Lahbib defended the Commission’s proposal, saying that humanitarian aid would remain governed by its own rules, which would preserve its principles and avoid any politicisation. In addition, the Commissioner emphasised that the future ‘Europe in the World’ instrument would offer greater flexibility, thanks in particular to ‘non-programmable’ overall budgets. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)