Crisis management

After the earthquake which hit Haiti in January this year, a number of European officials called on the EU to create a European emergency force to react as a single body to international crisis situations. The EU came under fire for its lack of cohesion with critics lamenting the missed opportunity for the bloc to show its solidarity and project its image as a major player on the world stage.

Eight months on from Haiti, the EU has yet to create a single emergency reaction force or aid fund and as such is running the risk of being labelled weak and inefficient again.

Over the weekend, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for the establishment of an EU disasters rapid reaction force in a letter to EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Sarkozy said that amid such natural catastrophes as the Russian wildfires and the Pakistan floods, "we must take the necessary measures and build a real EU reaction force ... that draws on the resources of the member states."

Creation of single EU body at the mercy of national interests

"There has been a discussion about creating a European civilian response body for emergency situations but it all comes down to the national members states," Fabrice Pothier, European bureau chief for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Deutsche Welle.

"So far they have failed to find a way to bring all the necessary personnel together - such as police, fire fighters and the judiciary. Europe has this capability but you have to start at the national level when coordinating this. Of course, when it doesn't happen, it's all the fault of Brussels."

"The problem, firstly, is one of political will," he added. "It's a hard sell for national governments to ask their people to provide resources for Brussels. There's also a problem arising from the fact that each member state has its own strategies and they want to put their own flag in the ground, not that of the EU."

"The Lisbon Treaty requires the EU to 'promote consistency in international civil-protection work'," Dr. Sven Grimm from the German Development Institute told Deutsche Welle. "I am not sure that this requires a single body. While a clear setting would facilitate speedy coordination, the rapidness of response - and the scope of it - is ultimately a question of political will and priorities, not so much of whether or not to have a single body."

The current EU crisis response tool, the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection, organised through the Monitoring and Information Center of the European Commission's aid directorate, acts as a coordinating body for the many individual relief efforts launched by EU member states.

The mission statement for the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection states that EU assistance will be provided on request of the country affected by the emergency and that the primary responsibility for dealing with the immediate effects of the disaster lies with the country where it has occurred.

EU says efforts on hold until Russia asks for help

In Russia's case, the EU says that the mechanism hasn't been triggered because Moscow has not asked for Europe's help. The Kremlin has been committed to showing that it can handle the wildfire situation on its own, even though its efforts to date have led to scathing criticism from within Russia itself.

"The EU needs to get smarter when it comes to cooperation," Pothier said. "It shouldn't strive to replace national initiatives and emergency crisis teams but it should get better at connecting them."

In contrast to the Russian stance, Pakistan, however, has asked for help in dealing with the deteriorating situation brought on by severe flooding in north western and central regions of the country.

Read more on the criticism of the EU's response

Pakistan flood response prompts criticism over EU aid

So far the floods have affected 14 million people, caused some 1,600 deaths and destroyed thousands of acres of crops, leading the UN to warn that the aftermath could be worse than from the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2004 Asian tsunami combined.

The UN has called for 350 million euros ($449m) in emergency international aid to help Pakistan. According to the Department for International Development, the United States has pledged 43 million euros in emergency aid to Pakistan. Britain has allocated 20.4 million euros and earmarked up to 37.5 million euros for relief aid. The EU has so far given Pakistan a modest 40 million euros in short-term flood aid.

The EU's offer has prompted widespread criticism from aid agencies and charities with Oxfam calling the European efforts "pitiful."

"The European Union, the world's richest group of countries, can afford to be much more generous," Oxfam said in a statement. "The crisis has escalated. EU aid must do the same."

"We must not forget that the EU is the world's biggest donor of aid, even bigger than the United States," said Pothier. "What the problem is, however, is that the aid situation is very fragmented within the EU. The donor system is spread between too many departments and agencies which makes the efficient channelling of the money to the right places an extremely complicated business ... and, yes, it does make the EU look weak and ineffective."

Lack of cohesive, unified approach adds to problems

Other critics of the EU efforts have said that the bloc is not responding cohesively enough to the ongoing human tragedy in Pakistan and that the division of labor between EU delegations in Islamabad is causing more problems than it is solving.

"It's very clear in Pakistan, just as it is in Afghanistan, that there are too many layers and too many different EU approaches," said Pothier. "There are too many EU strategies and programs working in Pakistan right now."

However, in general, Dr. Sven Grimm believes the EU can actually benefit from a division of labour - as long as it coordinated correctly.

"I do not see a major problem of cross-agency coordination within the EU when it comes to responding to humanitarian crisis," he said. "The key point appears to be coordination between the EU and its member states. This would appear to be a good solution if the profiles of the agencies are clear and coordination within the EU system works; if member states and the Commission do not haggle over who would go first - or who goes at all."

Fears of militants filling aid vacuum

Tomas Niklasson, the EU's top envoy to Islamabad, said earlier this week that the security situation in the country is complicating relief efforts and that the lack of a strong response from the Pakistan government is creating a vacuum which Islamist groups are more than happy to fill.

Islamist and jihadist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Pakistani Taliban are the most visible providers of aid and support in some of the afflicted regions, delivering their help with an additional militant message. The Taliban has even pledged 15.5 million euros of its own money in aid relief while calling on the Pakistani government to reject "Western" assistance.

It is also alleged that the concern over Islamist assistance coupled with the shortfall in European aid has prompted the United States to increase its own relief efforts to counteract the effects of the militant groups and boost the level of international donations.

Author: Nick Amies

Editor: Rob Mudge