6 The European Voluntary Humanitarian
Aid Corps
| (34256)
14150/12
+ ADDs 1-2
COM(12) 514
| Draft Council Regulation establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps
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| Legal base | Article 214 (5) TFEU; ordinary legislative procedure; QMV
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| Department | International Development
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 30 January 2013
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| Previous Committee Reports | HC 86-xxx (2012-13), chapter 2 (6 February 2013); HC 86-xxii (2012-13), chapter 10 (5 December 2012) and HC 86-xviii (2012-13), chapter 6 (31 October 2012); also see (32292) 17065/10: HC 428-xii (2010-11), chapter 12 (12 January 2011)
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| Discussion in Council | To be determined
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
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Background
6.1 Since 1992, EU humanitarian aid has been managed by the
Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection,
which was more commonly known as DG ECHO. The EU (Commission plus
the Member States) is one of the world's biggest providers of
humanitarian aid funding. Since 1992, operations directed by
ECHO have channelled aid to regions in crisis in more than 85
countries.[14]
6.2 Article 214 TFEU introduced, for the first
time, humanitarian aid as a policy in its own right in the EU
Treaties. It defines the EU's operations in the field of humanitarian
aid as being intended to provide ad hoc assistance and relief
for people in third countries who are victims of natural or man-made
disasters, in order to meet the humanitarian needs resulting from
these different situations; EU and Member States' measures "shall
complement and reinforce each other".
6.3 Article 214 (5) TFEU refers specifically
to a "European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps" (EVHAC),
whose objective is "to establish a framework for joint contributions
from young Europeans to the humanitarian aid operations of the
Union". The European Parliament and the Council, acting
by means of Regulations in accordance with the ordinary legislative
procedure, shall determine the rules and procedures for the operation
of the Corps.
6.4 The May 2011 EcoFin Council welcomed the
proposal, "but underlined that such a corps should be cost-effective,
should build upon existing national and international voluntary
schemes without duplicating them, and be focused on addressing
concrete needs and gaps in the humanitarian field." A European
Parliament Declaration was enthusiastic but lacked any of these
qualifications.
The draft Council Regulation
6.5 We first considered this draft Council Regulation
at our meeting on 31 October. It takes forward Commission Communication
17065/10, "How to express EU citizen's solidarity through
volunteering: First Reflections on a European Voluntary Humanitarian
Aid Corps"; this sets out the DG ECHO and Member State
consultation and discussion in Council working groups, with the
aim of tabling legislative proposals to the Council and to the
European Parliament in 2012, along with the guiding principles,
gaps in the current system and key conditions under which EVHAC
must operate (details in paragraphs 6.5-6.19 of our 2011 Report).[15]
6.6 The initiative is based on a widespread consultation
around six identified problems: lack of a structured EU approach
towards volunteering; poor visibility of EU humanitarian action
and solidarity with people in need; lack of consistent identification
and selection mechanisms across Member States; insufficient availability
of qualified volunteers; shortcomings in the "surge capacity"
of humanitarian aid; and weak capacity of organisations receiving
volunteers. The Commission would develop standards for recruitment,
preparation, deployment and management of volunteers, including
duty of care and minimum requirements on subsistence and accommodation.
Organisations that would like to select, prepare and deploy them
would have to be certified for compliance with these standards.
The Commission would manage a Register of EU Aid Volunteers.
A certification mechanism would also be established for organisations
eligible to receive volunteers, who could be helped to build capacity
to ensure effective management of the volunteers and sustainable
impact of their work. The proposed 2014-2020 budget is €239.1
million.
6.7 In her first update on the proposal, the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International
Development (Lynne Featherstone) was concerned that the current
proposal was not yet informed by the results of the pilots launched
to guide its eventual shape. She set out her approach clearly:
whether the volunteering programme would be the most cost-effective
way of addressing the problems that had been identified; limit
the number and scope of the initiative's activities to those where
needs were clear and pilot programmes had been evaluated and given
a positive assessment; ensure "as a minimum" that any
EU Aid Volunteers initiative not only responded to identified
need but was also complementary to existing initiatives in this
field within the international system; offered value for money;
had objectives grounded in humanitarian principles, including
a focus on robust outcome measures such as lives saved; provided
for sufficient Duty of Care for those deployed; was time-limited
and independently evaluated before any continuation.
6.8 Her second update showed how far there was
still to go in demonstrating that this initiative was justified
and, if so, is properly set up. A further update provided information
on what the pilot projects have shown thus far. All in all, the
Minister continued "to have reservations about the initiative
as proposed, including the overall need for it, its scale/budget
and its fit with similar projects."[16]
6.9 We looked forward to hearing from the Minister
about the revised Presidency text, at which point we asked for
her assessment not only of its particulars but also of how matters
stood in the European Parliament, and of the likely way forward.
6.10 In the meantime, we continued to retain
the document under scrutiny.[17]
The Minister's letter of 7 May 2013
6.11 The Minister (Lynne Featherstone) says that
the Irish Presidency circulated a first revised Presidency text
of the Regulation in March, and that the amendments "go some
way to improving the proposal and respond in large part to UK
and like-minded Member States verbal and written comments on the
Commission's first draft".
6.12 She says that she welcomes in particular:
— the
reorienting of the initiative's objective to focus more on strengthening
the EU's capacity to provide needs-based humanitarian aid;
— additional references to the needs basis
for interventions;
— underscoring of the overall coordinating
role of UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA);
— the need for coherence and complementarity
with existing initiatives;
— strengthening references to standards
and safety/security of volunteers;
— reorienting of capacity building activities
to focus on the ability of local organisations to deliver humanitarian
assistance rather than management of volunteers; and
— narrowing the scope of the EU Aid Volunteers
Network and Communication/visibility activities.
6.13 The Minister then notes that:
— Member
States met at the end of April to discuss the revised proposal;
— following this discussion, the Irish
Presidency was to circulate a further revised proposal before
the next working group meeting on 15 May, and is hoping to take
the proposal to COREPER before the end of June;
— the European Parliament's Development
Committee voted on its amendments to the proposal on 23 April;
and
— "trilogue"[18]
will begin following agreement of the Council negotiating position.
Conclusion
6.14 As recently as February, the Minister
continued to doubt the overall need for this proposal. Now, the
proposal is plainly at the point of entering the final stage of
the legislative process. However, it is by no means clear from
the information provided what has changed in order to overcome
her reservations.
6.15 We would therefore like her to deposit
the revised proposal forthwith and, in her Explanatory Memorandum,
as well as dealing with the reservations outlined in February
—the overall need for it, its scale/budget and its fit with
similar projects — explain in detail how it satisfies the
elements of the approach she set out at the beginning that any
EU Aid Volunteers initiative should:
— be
the most cost-effective way of addressing the problems that had
been identified;
— limit the number and scope of its
activities to those where needs were clear and pilot programmes
had been evaluated and given a positive assessment;
— "as a minimum" not only
respond to identified need but also be complementary to existing
initiatives in this field within the international system;
— offer value for money;
— have objectives grounded in humanitarian
principles, including a focus on robust outcome measures such
as lives saved;
— provide for sufficient Duty of Care
for those deployed;
— be time-limited; and
— be independently evaluated before
any continuation.
6.16 In the meantime, we shall retain the
proposal under scrutiny.
6.17 We are also again drawing this chapter
of our Report to the attention of the International Development
Committee.
14 See http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm for full
information on DG ECHO. Back
15
Also see (32292) 17065/10: HC 428-xii (2010-11), chapter 12 (12
January 2011). Back
16
See our previous Reports for full details of the proposal, the
Government's detailed views and the Committee's assessments:
HC 86-xviii (2012-13), chapter 6 (31 October 2012), HC 86-xxii
(2012-13), chapter 10 (5 December 2012) and HC 86-xxx (2012-13),
chapter 2 (6 February 2013); HC 86-xxii (2012-13), chapter 10
(5 December 2012). Back
17
See headnote: HC 86-xxx (2012-13), chapter 2 (6 February 2013). Back
18
The purpose of the trilogues is to facilitate the adoption of
a legislative proposal through restricted, political discussions
during which the European Parliament, the Council (via the Presidency
of the day) and the European Commission negotiate. Back
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