Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-409"
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"Mr President, I would like to thank you for putting Pakistan on the agenda. More importantly, I would also like to thank Parliament for its active contribution so far to the EU response by organising very useful meetings at committee level and for having exercised your right of scrutiny very rapidly, in fact in one day, this summer. That allowed us to adopt financing decisions swiftly to ensure help could be on its way.
Our assistance was also swift. On 30 July, it became clear that the floods were going to be devastating and our first financial decision for EUR 30 million was taken on the next day, 31 July.
We activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism, on receiving a request from the Pakistani authorities, immediately on 6 August, and we deployed a team of 18 experts to coordinate our assistance with the UN and the Pakistani authorities so it could be most effective.
This is the fist time that in-kind aid from Member States has been delivered using civil strategic airlift capacity in coordination with the EU military staff. It allowed us to provide much-needed water purification units, mobile hospitals, medicine, shelter and tents. But I am not going to hide the fact that, despite this tremendous effort, there are big challenges ahead of us.
So let me highlight four main challenges. First, the humanitarian crisis is far from over. We may not yet have even reached the peak of this crisis. We know from relief workers that, as of today, they expect in the month of September to have reached 6 million people out of the 12 million who are in need of assistance. So, in a way, the crisis is expanding faster than help can be mobilised to catch up with it. The situation may get worse before it gets better, especially in terms of epidemics.
Secondly, it is critically important, as we strive to reach as many people as possible, to target those that are most vulnerable. These include poor communities, women, especially women-led households, children, the elderly and the handicapped, because they are likely to be left out if they are not targeted consciously. So this is exactly what the Commission aims to do, working with our 26 partners.
Thirdly, bringing aid speedily is not only a matter of people’s survival. It is also a matter of preserving the stability of a country which faces significant security challenges. Popular discontent can easily grow out of desperation and therefore, we have to be absolutely determined to try to help people as quickly as possible, as much as possible.
Fourthly, important as it is to save lives today, we also need to think of recovery starting now. In terms of early recovery, there are two very important tasks. To ensure agricultural recovery when the water recedes, we have to be ready with tools and seeds and with help to farmers so they can catch up this planting season. At the same time, there is a need to rebuild the critical infrastructure that connects farmers to markets and also allows us to reach out to remote communities.
In the long term, obviously, the country is facing a major challenge of recovery. An assessment led by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, with the Commission and the UNDP, is currently ongoing to determine the long-term recovery needs. We have been working throughout very closely with High Representative and Vice-President Ashton, Commissioner Piebalgs and Commissioner De Gucht so that the European Union can come up with a comprehensive and holistic proposal as to how we can support the country’s development.
Pakistan will be on the agenda in the next Gymnich meeting and at the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting in Brussels on 14 and 15 October.
So let me draw some lessons for the EU. I see three. First, the Pakistani floods are only one of many reminders that the impact of climate change is profound. Looking at the resulting cost, it is very important to focus on disaster preparedness and also on rebuilding a highly vulnerable country devastated by a disaster in a way that is resilient to the risk of climate change.
My aim today is to convey the impressions gained from my recent mission to Pakistan, identify the next steps in our efforts, and conclude with some lessons we can draw for the European Union.
Taking a cautious approach, I cannot claim that these floods are caused by climate change. I certainly know, however, that scientific opinion is very clear that the increased frequency and intensity of disasters is due to climate change. Secondly, in a year which saw an earthquake in Haiti, a drought in the Sahel, conflict in Sudan and now floods of major proportions in Pakistan, once again, our budgetary situation is precarious, as our own budget and the emergency aid reserve are almost depleted. Yet it is still only the beginning of September.
Because of the upward trend in the number and intensity of disasters, there is a widening gap in our humanitarian budget which must be taken into account as we prepare for the next Financial Perspective so we can match our resources to our citizens’ commitment to helping people in need.
My third point is that the EU has been on the front line since the outset of the crisis and yet, in the early days, our presence was not widely reported in the media. We have to focus very strongly, therefore, on improving not only the efficiency but also the visibility of EU disaster response instruments, as was indicated this morning in the session that you had with President Barroso. We will come up with a proposal in the next month.
Let me conclude by stating with pride, on behalf of our citizens, that Pakistan has shown that EU solidarity is not just words; it is deeds and action. We can take pride in that, because our work is not only saving lives but also upholding principles and values that are at the heart of the European project.
So let me start with my impressions of Pakistan, which were dominated by the fact that this is an incredibly complex situation which is actually two disasters in one.
Up in the North, there are 3 million internally displaced people and refugees, who have had to flee from armed conflicts only to see their camps and their newly-built houses washed away and their newly-built lives destroyed. Downstream, in the fertile plains of South Pakistan, rural communities have lost not only their homes, but also their livelihoods and a large part of the economy of Pakistan on which the country relies.
Since I briefed the Development Committee, the numbers indicating the impact of this disaster have actually gone up. All in all, more than 20 million Pakistanis have been affected by the floods across the whole country. More than 12 million people are in need of immediate assistance.
I know that the issue that was discussed before is a very important one for European values. As indeed is the one I am addressing now, so thank you.
In terms of numbers, just a week ago, we were talking about 8 million people being in need of immediate assistance. Now the numbers have been revised upwards to 12 million. More than 1.8 million houses have been destroyed or damaged; this number has been revised up from 1.2 million. More than 3.4 million hectares of agricultural land are under water. There are reports of diarrhoea and cholera outbreaks. In these conditions, our aid is focusing on the obvious immediate priorities: food, clean water, sanitation, health assistance and shelter. In the face of a disaster of such massive proportions, massive international relief assistance is necessary. So let me move straight to the next point. What has the EU done, and what do we intend to do next?
Our humanitarian response has been significant. The EU, that is, the Member States and the Commission, has contributed so far a total of EUR 231 million for immediate relief assistance, with EUR 70 million coming from the Commission and the remaining EUR 161 million from the Member States. Twelve Member States have also mobilised in-kind assistance through the Union’s civil protection mechanism. This makes us the largest donor. Our contribution should be measured against the UN call for USD 460 million for immediately relief, but I must also stress that this call is going to be revised upwards and we will probably get a new appeal from the UN within a week."@en1
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