Putting the EU’s crisis response mechanisms to the test

This tragedy showed how little the EU’s disaster reponse procedures have changed.

On the margins of the evident human tragedy, the earthquake that shook Haiti on 12 January has been described by European Union officials as the first great test for the Union’s post-Lisbon foreign policy, and for its new foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton. It was also a test for the EU’s crisis response mechanisms, which largely pre-date the Lisbon treaty. 

In terms of EU involvement, little in fact has changed since the last large-scale international disaster, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean of December 2004, despite a report on the lessons to be drawn for Europe’s crisis response. Dissatisfaction even extended to the management of the EU contribution: European politicians complained that although the EU provided most of the emergency funds, it was the US intervention that was most visible.

Last week Michel Barnier, who drew up the post-tsunami report at the request of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, complained that none of the recommendations he made – including the creation of a European civil protection force – had been implemented. As it stands now, the EU has nothing even approaching a crisis intervention corps.

Experts on the ground

Since civil protection, both within and outside the EU, is essentially a responsibility of the member states, the EU’s structures are lean, and rely on voluntary contributions from the member states. The Commission’s directorate-general for environment runs the Monitoring and Information Centre, or MIC, the main operational unit of the Union’s crisis response. This is staffed by Commission experts who co-ordinate with counterparts in member states. They keep track of offers made by member states and match the offers to needs in disaster-stricken areas.

In the case of Haiti, MIC experts were on the ground within 48 hours of the earthquake. Six national experts and two MIC staff replaced that initial team last Friday (22 January). Their main function is to assess the most pressing needs and to co-ordinate the national relief efforts of the member states, 23 of which are currently providing assistance through the EU’s civil protection mechanism. With the shift from search and rescue to providing relief to survivors, and, in due course, to reconstruction and development, that task is becoming complex.

The national sensitivities that are often at play when governments provide emergency aid abroad have their parallel at European level too. Barnier’s main criticism of the EU’s response to Haiti was its low-key delivery, including the fact that Ashton had not flown in right away. (Karel De Gucht, the European commissioner for development, visited Haiti last week, just over a week after the earthquake struck.)

Specialised agencies

Fact File

What is the EU giving?

Total EU aid pledged amounts to €352m. This includes €122m in immediate humanitarian assistance, with the promise of €200m for long-term reconstruction. The Commission is also giving €30m in emergency relief.
European countries have sent around 1,000 experts to Haiti (24 European Economic Area countries).

Source: European Commission.

The Commission’s humanitarian aid office, ECHO, is far larger than the MIC and has a far broader remit. Its main task is to provide emergency relief, be it in wars or in the wake of natural disasters. It is primarily a funding body; most of its assistance is channelled through the specialised agencies of the United Nations, such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or the UN Development Programme (UNDP), or through the Red Cross and non-governmental organisations such as Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders. ECHO has the authority to grant up to €3 million to its partner organisations through a fast-track procedure in the first three days after a disaster hits – as it has done in the case of Haiti. ECHO provides funding for food aid, water and sanitation interventions, shelter, medical assistance and aid to refugees and the displaced – all assistance that is needed in the emergency phase of war and famine as well as in the wake of natural disasters. There are ECHO staff in the EU’s delegations around the world, and they monitor the local situation as well as the ways its partners spend their money.

Civil protection activities and humanitarian funding are so distinct that there is little overlap in the work undertaken by the MIC and ECHO, except in the gathering and sharing of information. There is, however, room for better co-ordination of the various national responses as aid teams flood a disaster area with little prior thought about the best use of resources. The Barnier report and its subsequent fate has shown just how difficult the ‘Europeanisation’ of member states’ emergency aid is.

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