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| Europe |
| EU 'needs disaster-reaction corps' |
| 2006-05-09 |
THE European Union should create a special reaction corps to deal with disasters such as the Asian tsunami of 2004, when its crisis-management abilities were found lacking, an official report urged today. The report also called on the bloc to provide better help to its citizens caught up in such disasters, such as pooling national consular services vital to identifying and repatriating victims. "I hope it won't take another disaster or tsunami to get this implemented. It all depends on the political will," said former French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, who was commissioned by the EU to produce the report. Mr Barnier said the corps should be drawn from existing crisis management personnel made available by member states. He did not say how large it should be, but in the past has spoken of a corps totalling 5000 experts, including firefighters, technicians and medics. The timetable set out by Mr Barnier proposed the launch of the corps by 2010, slower than sought by some EU officials. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said last year it would be good to have the unit set up by next year. Within weeks of the December 26, 2004 tsunami, which claimed over 200,000 lives, the EU and its member states pumped billions of euros of aid into the region, not counting donations from private citizens and debt-easing pacts with affected countries. But while a US aircraft carrier in the region rushed in to start distributing aid, the EU was seen as slow to offer help on the ground in the critical days after the wave. EU officials acknowledged problems in coordinating national offers of aid, while some EU countries did not have the consular presence necessary to help their own citizens. Mr Barnier's report also suggested the bloc create mobile teams of consular experts to be flown in to help in crises and joint EU funding to pay for the evacuation of victims. The proposal is the latest effort by the EU to plough ahead with integration despite the uncertain future of the EU constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters last year. That charter included a clause obliging EU states to come to each others' aid in natural disasters and would have created the new post of EU foreign minister intended to make member states work more closely together internationally. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #9 I thought the EU was a disaster reaction corps. I just thought they weren't very good at it... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-05-09 21:56 |
| #8 Ummm, I was on three different ships, none nearly as large as any aircraft carrier, and we had the capability of making several thousand gallons of fresh water per hour, not per day |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2006-05-09 21:17 |
| #7 He did not say how large it should be, but in the past has spoken of a corps totalling 5000 experts, including firefighters, technicians and medics. Sounds to me like crew of a USN aircraft carrier. They have firefighters, technicians, medics (including doctors). They also have the ability to make several thousand gallons of fresh water a day. And the helicopters to deliver it. |
| Posted by: Rambler 2006-05-09 20:03 |
| #6 EU 'needs disaster-reaction corps' maybe your cops would qualify if if you quit tying them up ...oh...overseas??? Whoop! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-05-09 19:44 |
| #5 The EU is a disaster. Tranzi jackasses. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-05-09 19:32 |
| #4 "Mr Barnier's report also suggested the bloc create mobile teams of consular experts to be flown in to help in crises" Experts in condom distribution, multiculturalism, sensitivity training, and training new legions of indigenous bureaucrats to fill out applications for EU aid. |
| Posted by: Fordesque 2006-05-09 19:24 |
| #3 I take it the intrepid seaworthy vessel called the Charles DeGaulle is out of drydock, right? |
| Posted by: Raj 2006-05-09 19:08 |
| #2 Well, Mike, that is why the EU has USA on speed dial for 911 calls. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-05-09 18:06 |
| #1 ...Yeah, no doubt they'll just fund the hell right outta that. Should be no problem getting the heavy sealift and airlift they need, right? Lotsa places in the EU still make that stuff. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-05-09 17:59 |