ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(77)382
Vol.1977/0125

Disclaimer
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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
t
COM(77)382final.
Brussels,28July1977
COMMISSION Ca-TIMMUNICATIONTOTHECOUNCIL
I
ONTHECOORDINATION OFTHEACTIONSOFTHECOMMUNITY ANDTHE
MEMBERSTATESINEMERGENCY ANDHUMANITARIAN AID
COM(77)382final

Introduction
'Followingthediscussionsthattookplacevithiftthevarious
CouncilbodiesonthebasisoftheIXitchMemorandum onthe
EEC'sdevelopmentaidpolicy,theCouncil,atitsmeetingof
22March1977»adoptedaResolutiononthecoordination ofthe
actionsoftheCommunityandtheMemberSte.tesinemergencyand
humanitarian aidgivenfornaturaldisastersercomparablecir«-
cumatances.
IntheResolution,theCouncilagreedthatmeasuresshouldhe
takenatCommunityleveltostepup,"bymeansof"betterinforma­
tionandcoordination ,Communityandnationaldisasteraid,"both
inthephaseofimmediatehelpandinthatofshort-termemer-
genoyaid.
TothisendtheCouncilrequestedtheCommissiontosubmit
proposalsforputtingintoeffecttheguidelinesdefined,so
thatitcouldrapidlytaketheapproDriate decisions.
TheaimofthisCommunication istdgive,detailsofthemecha­
nismstohesetupatCommunitylevelandintheMemberStates
andtoproposethedecisionsthatshouldbetakentoachieve
"bettercoordination .
TheCouncilhasalsostressedtheusefulnessofdrawingUDan
inventoryofthemeansatthedisposaloftheMemberStatesand
theCommunitythatcouldbecombined.OncetheCouncilhas
adoptedthearrangements containedinthisCommunication,the
firsttaskofthecoordinator andthecorrespondent designated
ineachoftheMemberStateswillbetodrawupthatinventory.

~ν>_· '
I.Coordination-scope ana-procedures , ...
AsstatedintheResolution,coordination willbegearedmainly
totwophases:thatofimmediatehelpandthatofshort–tenn
emergencyaid.
1,Thefirstphasebeginsassoonastheeventoccurs.
Theprimeobjective,ashasalready "beenstressedbythe
Council,isspeedofaction.Thisisattainedbymeansof
emergencyproceduresfordecision-making anddeliveryof
products;theseproceduresexistbothatCommunitylevel
andintheMemberStates.
Inthesecircumstances ,coordination willtendtoinvolve
principally exchanginginformation ,particularly onthe
situationinthecountry(ies)concerned,andproducingan
inventoryoftheactiontakenbytheCommunitybyherself
andtheMemberStates.
a)Decisionscanbetakenrapidlythankstotheinformation
suppliedbytherelevantinternational organizations ,
notablyUNDRO.Althoughthisinformationisdoubtless
ofgreatvalue,experiencehasshownthatitdoesnot
alwaysreflectthetruerequirements (natureandscaleof
theneedstobesatisfiednotspecified).Moreover,where
thereisnonaturaldisaster,thereisoftennoinformation
tobehad.
Thecoordinator'sfirstrolesthenwouldbetopasson,
wherenecessary,information onthenatureandscaleof
therequirements inallemergencysituations,itbeing
understoodthatthisrolemayinnowayduplicatethat
ofexistingorganizations .Whereappropriate ,this
couldbedoneaftermissionshavebeensenttothe
countriesaffectedandreportshavebeenreceivedfrom
CommissionDelegates.

?>–
Fortheirpart,theMemberStatesforwardtothecoordinator
anyinformationattheirdisposal,besidesthatsuppliedby
theinternational organizations anddetailsofanyactionthey
plantotakeandofanyrequestsfortheparticipation ofone
ormoreotherMemberStatesand/ortheCommunityinajioperation
(e.g.supplyofmedicinalpreparations byoneMemberState,air
freightingofthoseproductsbyanotherMemberState).
b)Inthepast,aidfromtheCommunityandtheMemberStates
hasbeenpresentedtotheoutsideworldasaseriesof
scatteredoperations,whichreducedtheirimpactonpublic
opinioninEuropeandontherecipientcountries–(although
therehavebeenexceptions(e.g.Sahel)).
Thecoordinator'ssecondroleinthisphasewillbetodraw
uponeormoreinventoriesoftheactionsundertakenbythe
CommunityaridtheMemberStatesandensurethatitgets
adequatepublicity.Thisinventorycould,ofcourse,cons­
titutethebasisforadditionalaidwheredesirable.
TheMemberStatesinformthecoordinator ofalltheschemes
theydecideuponsothathecandrawuptheinventory.
2.Theobjectiveoftheoperationstobeimplemented duringthe
secondphaseistorestorethesituationinthecountryaffeo-
tedtonormal.
Duringthisphase,thecoherenceoftheactionundertakenis
moreimportantthanthespeed.
•Incontrastwiththefirstphase,theinformationsuppliedby
therelevantinstitutions onthenatureandscaleofthe
needsisverylimitedandthereisatpresentnoeffective
*
mechanismforcoordinating Communityactionandthatofthe
MemberStatesorthatoftheMemberStatesamongthemselves,
noristhereanyprocedurewherebyschemestobeundertaken
canbeevaluatedandaninventorydrawnupofthosecarried
out#

Consequently ,inordertoachievemaximumcoherence :
a)thecoordinatorwillevaluatetheneedsto"besatisfied
duringthissecondphaseonthe"basisoftheinformation
getheredfromvarioussourcesandwillforwardhiscon­
clusionstotheMemberStatesasquicklyaspossible#
TheMemberStateswillforwardg.nyinformation theyhave
tothecoordinator .
b)thecoordinatorwilldefine,inconjunctionwiththeMember
States,theguidelinesfortheoperationstobeundertaken
aimingatoptimumeffectiveness (nature,scaleofoperations,
Communityparticipation and/orparticipation ofeachMember
Stateinjointoperations').
Thecoordinatorwillalsohavetodrawuptheinventoryof
actiontakenbytheCommunityand/ortheMemberStates,see
thatitisdistributed toallconcerned andwriteoneor
morereportsontheprogressofalltheoperations.
Fortheirpart,theMemberStateswillforwardtothecocr*-
dinatortoenablehimtocarryouthisduties:
–thedecisionstakenonthebasisoftheguidelines
stipulatedabove
–themonthlyreportsontheexecutionoftheiroperations.
/■

«–^"7
*
.II#Administrative arrangements andoperation
A.Administrative arrangements
"*TheCommissionconsidersthatcoordination canonlytakeplace
ifamodestincreaseinstaffismadeavailableandthatnew.
taskscanonly"beundertaken whensuchstaffhas"beennominated.
TheCommissionwouldgivethecoordinator theautonomythatis
indispensable forrapidandefficientoperating,andwouldsupply
thenecessarymeanstocarryouthisduties(telex,directtele­
phone,etc...).
EachMemberStatewilldesignateapersontoactasthedirect
correspondent ofthecoordinator andcentralizetheinformation
onemergencyaidgivenbyhiscountry.
B.Practicaloperation
Directcontactsbetweenthecoordinator andthecorrespondents
willbemadeasfollowswithamaximumofflexibility :
–bytelephoneortelexformaximumspeed
–atinformalmeetingswhichthecoordinatorwillberequired
tocallifitshouldprovenecessaryandinwhichthecorres-
.pondentsinterestedinagivenoperationwilltakepart
–duringmissionstotheaffectedcountry,inwhichcorrespon­
dentsdirectlyconcernedbytheircountries'operationswill
beabletotakepart.
Aspointedoutinitem1ofthiscommunication ,thecoordinating
machinerywouldnotreplacebutcomplementexistingprocedures
fordecisionandimplementation ,asregardsboththeCommunity
(i.e.decisionsforemergencyfoodaidandexceptionalaids,etc)
andalsotheMemberStates.Nonethelessitmustfollowthatthe
impactofaidscoordinatedinthiswaywouldbeconsiderably
increasedifthemeansofactionavailabletotheCommunitycould
beexpanded(e.g.doublingofthesizeofthefoodaidthatthe
Commissionisempoweredtodecideonitsown,increaseinappro­
priationsunderbudgetarticle950forfinancialaidforrelief
ofdisastervictims,creationofstocksofminoramountsof
foodstuffsspeciallysuitableforemergencies,etc..).

-6–
Inconclusion,itisproposedthattheCouncilagreetoall
thearrangements concerningthecoordination setoutinthis
Coromunication•