E.U. promises swift delivery of aid, trade help for victims

E.U. promises swift delivery of aid, trade help for victims

Agencies, Brussels

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Tuesday promised quick delivery of European Union aid for tsunami victims in Asia and said the 25-nation bloc would also be taking trade action to help countries affected by the catastrophe.

EU aid worth 450 million euros (US$589 million), backed by European Investment Bank loans worth one billion euros, would be delivered to disaster-hit countries on time, the Commission chief promised.

"The challenge for the E.U. and for donors across the world is to turn our tsunami pledges into hard cash.... Promises are not enough," Barroso told the European Parliament as quoted by DPA.

The EU would send rapid emergency assistance worth 100 million euros, followed swiftly by 350 million euros for long-term rehabilitation and reconstruction, he said.

However, lawmakers have argued that governments will have to increase the EU's 105 billion euros annual budget if it wants to meet that pledge, or face cuts in other sectors, possibly including aid to African countries.

But the EU assured poor African countries their plight would not be ignored just because the bloc is currently centering its emergency aid on the tsunami victims in Asia.

"The poor across the world will not pay the price of this disaster," Barroso said as quoted by AFP. "Clearly the priority of the EU is and will be Africa."

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who currently holds the EU presidency, agreed.

"I hope we will be more aware of the fact that the poverty and misery we see today should not make us forget the poverty, underdevelopment and injustice elsewhere," he told the legislature.

"Our hearts should be where the television cameras have left or have never been," he said.

Outlining a series of additional actions, Barroso said the EU was also reflecting on ways of using trade measures to provide relief for regions and businesses affected by the devastating tsunami.

These could include a suspension of anti-dumping duties imposed on affected countries, re-orientating trade-related assistance to states and fast-tracking the adoption and implementation of a new tariff-cutting plan -- known as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) -- for Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and India.

Help for the region's fisheries and aquaculture sector was also under consideration, he said.

Barroso added that the EU was planning to reinforce its civil protection assistance program which mobilizes national experts and equipment including medical teams and relief supplies such as tents, bottled water, water purification and sanitation equipment at short notice following a disaster.

The Dec. 26 tsunami disaster has cost the lives of at least 153,000 people and the European Parliament is assessing this week where the bloc will get money to back long-term aid pledges Barroso made last week.

The 25 EU governments are expected to give their approval at the next EU finance ministers meeting, Jan. 18.