Tsunami millions still in EU’s pocket

By David Cronin

Date: 17/11/05

Less than one-tenth of EU aid pledged for reconstruction efforts in countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami has been paid out, according to an analysis by the UK's EU presidency.

Following the 26 December 2004 disaster, which claimed more than 250,000 lives, the 25 EU governments promised a total of EUR 1.6 billion to help rebuild the devastated areas. By late October, however, just EUR 112 million of that amount had been distributed.

The EUR 1.6bn pledge was separate from the emergency relief operations undertaken by the European Commission's Humanitarian Office (ECHO). Out of EUR 123m earmarked by ECHO, EUR 100m has been committed to specific projects and nearly EUR 54m has been distributed. The Commission is expected to release another EUR 20m before the end of this month.

The UK paper also pinpoints shortcomings in the Union's preparedness for man-made or natural disasters, saying that crisis management exercises undertaken by the EU's military personnel do not deal with such scenarios and that "it is necessary to investigate" how they could be adapted to address this omission.

Camillo Tovar from Europe External Policy Advisors (EEPA), a team of Brussels-based development aid analysts, said: "We have heard from people in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Maldives that much of the money pledged to them after the tsunami has not gone there." One major problem, he added, was that Sri Lanka had been seeking aid for large-scale tourism projects, which have not been tailored to address the needs of the tsunami's more vulnerable victims.

Speaking to a conference on crisis management this week, Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero Waldner said: "Very few international crises allow for a 'quick fix'. We must accept our responsibility for long-term follow-up commitments."

* A strategy for improving EU aid to poor countries is to be endorsed by development ministers when they meet in Brussels next week (22 November).

The European consensus on development paper omits a proposal made by the Commission in July that EU countries should pool their aid efforts in a bid to improve effectiveness. Some of the national governments feared that the Commission could be seeking powers of co-ordination beyond the limits of the Union's treaties. Among those sceptical of the Commission's plans were the UK, Sweden and Denmark.

A source close to Louis Michel, the commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, said that rather than seeking new powers, the objective of the proposal had been to enhance the quality of aid. Although the EU is the largest donor to poor countries, Michel feels that there is too much fragmentation of work between its 25 member states. "Every euro could be made more effective in terms of fighting poverty," the source added.

Article reports that according to an analysis by the UK's EU Presidency less than one-tenth of EU aid pledged for reconstruction efforts in countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami had been paid out by October 2005. The paper also criticised the EU's preparedness for man-made or natural disasters. Article reports that in a separate development a strategy for improving EU aid to poor countries was to be endorsed by EU Development Ministers in a Council meeting on 22 November 2005.