Commitment of the ” “twenty-Five” “

“Europeans are at the side of the peoples of Asia in this enormous tragedy. We are united in mourning for all the victims. I wish to express our firm commitment to helping you in your hour of need. We will do everything possible to help you to overcome this tragedy”, said the President of the European Commission, JOSÉ MANUEL DURAO BARROSO in addressing the ASEAN summit in Jakarta (Indonesia) on 6 January. Barroso pledged the solidarity of the Twenty-Five with the nations struck by the tsunami on 26 December. RESOURCES TO TACKLE THE EMERGENCY AND RECONSTRUCTION. Since the disaster struck, the EU has been engaged in seeking the most effective ways of getting emergency aid to South-East Asia, but it has also confirmed “its determination to support, in the long term, the efforts for the reconstruction of the regions submerged by the tsunami”. The first emergency aid measures were decided by the revolving Presidency of the EU Council, assigned to the Netherlands until 31 December, then to Luxembourg. To the 23 million euros immediately allocated, through Echo (the EU’s office for humanitarian aid in Brussels), to the Red Cross, UNICEF, NGOs and the authorities of the countries struck by the disaster, have since been added the funds made available by the individual member states. But the EU authorities, which have finally found a formula of rapid and concrete aid after the first uncertainties in late December, have made it known that fresh funds for disaster relief would be found after Monday 3 January. AFTER EMERGENCY RELIEF, GIVING THOUGHT TO RECONSTRUCTION. During the extraordinary ASEAN summit in Jakarta, Barroso explained that the 25 intend to provide “a supplementary aid package of up to 450 million euros to contribute to the relief of the victims”. The total sum of aid pledged by the European Union and member states would thus rise to 1.5 billion euros. The leader of the European Executive also explained, in his address to ASEAN, that “a credit line called ‘Tsunami in the Indian Ocean’ will be proposed, equivalent to one billion euros, administered by the European Investment Bank”. Barroso also stressed that “there must be no discontinuity between the humanitarian relief being provided at the present time and the subsequent phase of reconstruction, whose costs will probably be known in March”. “EUROPE WILL REMAIN AT THE SIDE OF THE PEOPLES OF SOUTH-EAST ASIA”. Also present in Jakarta as part of the official EU delegation were Jean-Claude Junker, prime minister of Luxembourg and current President of the EU Council, humanitarian aid Commissioner Louis Michel and the Minister for Cooperation of the Grand-Duchy, Jean-Louis Schiltz, as representative of the Council of Ministers. “I am here because Europe is with you”, said JEAN CLAUDE JUNKER on behalf of the Union at the summit in Indonesia. The Old Continent “is pledged – added the Luxembourg premier – through the Community institutions, national governments, non-governmental organizations, associations and individual citizens. It is a sign of sincere participation and solidarity” towards the populations struck by the fury of nature. Junker also thanked “the countries of this region for the assistance they had given to European citizens searching for their families and friends, victims of the same catastrophe”. He said in conclusion that “in response to a challenge of this magnitude it is clear that we need to turn to the UNO, to its legitimacy and its experience, so that it may assume a role of global coordination of the projects” both in the short and long term. FULL COLLABORATION BETWEEN EU INSTITUTIONS. On its return from Indonesia, the EU delegation reported to the meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Health, held in Brussels on 7 January. It briefed the ministers about the decisions taken at Jakarta, including the widely felt wish to “leave the coordination of emergency operations and future reconstruction to the UNO”. At the same meeting the ministers also discussed the possibility of reducing or writing off the public debt of the countries that have suffered the tragedy of the tsunami. The EU is also thinking of setting up a “rapid reaction force” to provide an immediate response in the event of natural disasters or emergencies, to be deployed both within the EU and on the international scene. The ministers also promised to examine in the near future the option of “a better coordination of military resources through appropriate organizations – says the document discussed in Brussels -, to ensure an effective presence in support of OCHA”, i.e. the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid, headed by the United Nations. The tsunami emergency was also at the centre of the work of the European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg from 10 to 13 January, and of the European Commission. The EU has been invited to the Donors’ Conference, due to be held in Geneva on 11 January, under the aegis of the UNO.