EU: The European Union is considering setting up an international crisis management force to respond quickly to disasters such as the Asian tsunami.
The External Relations Commissioner, Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has told the Financial Times newspaper that she would present a proposal for a group of 5,000 experts nominated by national governments, who would train together and work under a common EU command in emergencies.
"I would like to see the EU rapidly developing the capacity to deploy experts, with rapid reaction teams in disaster relief, fire-fighting, emergency reconstruction, on standby," she said.
Ms Ferrero-Waldner said the new force should be created as soon as possible, ideally by 2007, when the EU's battlegroups - military units of up to 1,500 soldiers capable of foreign interventions at short notice - are due to come into being.
The French foreign minister backed Ms Ferrero-Waldner's proposal, saying there was a need for a civilian equivalent of United Nations peacekeeping forces.
"Firemen, technicians, doctors, vaccinators, mobile hospitals, in short all the means you need to deal with a humanitarian emergency and these means would be used to working together, these people would be trained together," Mr Michel Barnier said.
He first called for the establishment of a Eurocorps in 2003, in response to the forest fires that devastated parts of France and Portugal. He said yesterday that the new force should consist of national or regional units "which in case of emergency and depending on the nature of catastrophes, would set off together in Europe or outside of Europe".
The Commission president, Mr José Manuel Barroso, is expected to promise more EU help for the countries hit by last week's disaster when he attends an international aid conference in Jakarta tomorrow.
The EU has pledged more than €240 million in aid, including €30 million from the Commission - that contribution could increase by up to €100 million.
"Obviously money is important," Ms Ferrero-Waldner said, "but it is equally vital that we have systems in place to make sure that we have aid for people who need it first and the effective co-ordination of efforts. The present crisis has revealed the limitations of our capacity in civil crisis management."
EU foreign and development ministers will discuss the crisis at a special meeting in Brussels on Friday, when they will prepare for a UN donors' conference due to take place in Geneva next Tuesday. They will hear a report from Luxembourg's Minister for Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Affairs and the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, who have both travelled to the devastated region.
James Fitzgerald adds:
The Government should honour its commitment to the European Civil Protection Mechanism and make a team of Irish firefighters available to assist in the ongoing disaster operation in south-east Asia, according to the chairman of the National Firefighters' Committee, under the auspices of SIPTU.
Mr Brian Murray claims the Thai government has called for the mechanism to be activated but that, so far, Ireland has declined to make any firefighters available.
Mr Murray said Ireland was a participant of the mechanism, which was set up to help in case of disaster whether within the EU or further afield. He said the mechanism was previously activated following the devastating earthquake in Bam, Iran, just over a year ago, but again, Ireland did not send firefighters to assist.
"Our business is working in disaster zones on a daily basis . . . There are British firefighters over there at the moment and we are calling on the Government to honour their commitment," said Mr Murray.