Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the issue now under our consideration is one of the most tragic facing mankind at the beginning of this new century: the phenomenon of populations uprooted as a result of violent conflicts. The text of my report contains some figures that are by themselves striking enough. Nevertheless, recent estimates show that the situation is growing worse. In the last two years, more than five million people have been forced to leave their homes. According to current estimates, more than thirty million people are displaced, some as refugees seeking shelter in foreign countries, others forced to seek refuge in safer areas within their own countries. The continent that has been worst affected is Africa, but the situation in Asia has also deteriorated. We only need to look at Afghanistan and the refugee camps in Pakistan. Problems also remain in Timor, for example, although East Timor is making considerable progress in building on its independence and democracy. With regard to Latin America, the situation in Colombia has become practically intolerable. We could mention other tragic examples, but the essence of the problem speaks for itself. What have we done in the face of this situation? Since 1984, the European Parliament has promoted the creation of a budget heading designed for refugees in Asia and Latin America. It was only in 1997, however, that this heading was given a legal basis. What are the substance and the grounds for such aid? We all know that there are budgetary headings for emergency aid, such as the ECHO programme and other forms of what we could call ‘horizontal’ aid. These aid packages only cover the first six months, however. They are an attempt to provide a period of basic survival. The line of aid discussed in this report seeks to fill the gap that exists between emergency aid and development aid. In fact, in many cases, once populations have passed through the initial survival phase, they still lack the organisational ability needed to obtain development aid – sometimes also because their countries themselves lack the necessary political structures. There is broad consensus in Parliament on the importance of this aid line, and the proof of this is the 1996 adoption of the Howitt report. Nevertheless, the 1997 regulation expired in 1999. What did Parliament receive more than a year later? A proposal for a regulation that was very similar to the previous one. At the same time, and with regard to the past, it should also be noted that, due to the shortcomings of the Commission’s planning, the timescale for Parliament’s work was exceptionally tight. It is only now that we have finished, due to the cooperation of many NGOs, and those who have worked on the process on behalf of the Commission and the Council. Parliament not only strove to provide greater flexibility, clearer coordination and greater rigour in the assessment and implementation of aid but also fought to include greater coherence between cooperation and development policies in the regulation, bearing in mind the European Union’s political commitments. It is precisely in order to ensure coherence that we must make more appropriations available: we must increase them from EUR 36 million in 2001 to around EUR 55 million per year over the next three years. We cannot claim to consider this to be sufficient, but it is important to emphasise that this is a political message which is positive and meaningful at international level and which is also an incentive for the work of the NGOs and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. I should also like to draw your attention to the urgent need within the European Union to address the refugee issue in a united way. Our strategic objectives must be to prevent further occurrences of this phenomenon. We must invest in conflict prevention and in establishing conditions that save local populations from the tragedy of major large-scale displacement. We must give priority to cooperation and development policy throughout the European Union’s external policy, not least as an important source of legitimacy for the common foreign and security policy. In raising the question of Africa as one of its priorities, the Belgian Presidency is working towards this goal and we are very pleased with this development. We therefore hope that we will have the support of the Commission and the Council, especially because this type of action gives more credibility to the common European project.

Political group: PSE