The Strengthening of EU Crisis Capabilities: What Impact on Humanitarian Aid?

The present briefing is a consolidated update of the Briefing paper on EU Crisis Management produced by VOICE in 2004. It focuses on a number of new developments related to the strengthening of EU crises capabilities - especially those that followed the 2004 tsunami and seeks to address how several of these instruments and mechanisms might have an impact on EU humanitarian aid. The first part is dedicated to how EC humanitarian aid is implemented through DG ECHO today. It explains the civil protection sector under DG Environment, its relationship with humanitarian actors as well as its likely effect on EU humanitarian aid, and stresses the need for a coordinated clearly defined policy for EU humanitarian aid. The second part focuses on the strengthening of civilian and military crisis responses of the EU, and how policy decisions in that field relate to and impact on humanitarian aid.