About humanitarian aids and the development of shared criteria by the EU and the member states for a more effective action in this sphere, Louis Michel states: "As Europeans, we have a moral duty to be in the front line to bring aids to the millions of victims of violent conflicts and natural catastrophes". "Humanitarian actions are one of the fundamental external goals of the EU: the time has come to make our voice be jointly heard in defence of the humanitarian cause and against the increasingly frequent violations of the international law". The report adopted by the Executive "is the fruit of a broad consultation with the bodies and organisations concerned (NGOs, UN agencies and bodies, the Red Cross) and an in-depth reflection on the lessons learnt from the previous crises". According to the Belgian Commissioner, "all this should lay the foundations for future European consensus on humanitarian aids, based on Europe’s established tradition of solidarity and on the principles and good practices of humanitarian aid".
