WRITTEN QUESTION E-3249/02 by Margrietus van den Berg (PSE) to the Commission. Evaluation of the ECHO Global Plan 2000 — Angola.
Date: 2002-11-19
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Angola, ECHO, EU programme, emergency aid, humanitarian aid, project evaluation

12.6.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 137 E/181

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(11 December 2002)

The Commission can inform the Honourable Member that on 11 November the Council approved
Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 establishing the European Union Solidarity Fund (1), the purpose of which
is to enable essential emergency operations to be carried out when a major disaster occurs. If the Italian
authorities submit an application on the terms of the Regulation the Commission will examine it with a
view to channelling aid as quickly as possible to the region in question.

The Commission also reminds the Honourable Member that in the case of zones and regions eligible for
Structural Fund assistance appropriations for the 2000-2006 programming period that have not yet been
committed to particular projects can at a Member State’s request be reassigned among the various
priorities of the regional programme in question.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 of 11 November 2002 establishing the European Union Solidarity Fund,

OJ L 311, 14.11.2002.

(2003/C 137 E/205)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3249/02

by Margrietus van den Berg (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Evaluation of the ‘ECHO Global Plan 2000 (cid:1) Angola’

(19 November 2002)

The summary report on the evaluation of
recommendations.

the ‘ECHO Global Plan 2000 (cid:1) Angola’ contains ten

1.

2.

3.

4.

How has the Commission responded to each of the points?

Has the Commission made any improvements?

If so, what?

If not, why have no improvements been made?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(9 January 2003)

The independent evaluation confirmed the appropriateness of Humanitarian Aid office (ECHO)’s decision
to refocus its programme in Angola on its core emergency response mandate, withdrawing from providing
support to secondary health facilities: ‘The exit strategy has been highly relevant to clean ECHO’s portfolio
and concentrate itself on its core mandate’.

ECHO’s 2002 Global Plan drew on the evaluation, and ECHO’s continued focus on its core mandate
became particularly relevant as the true extent of the humanitarian crisis in Angola was revealed, after the
April 2002 cease fire. ECHO’s strategy for 2003 will continue along the same lines, focusing on life-saving
health, nutrition, emergency relief and logistics operations in the newly-accessible areas whilst aiming to
link interventions, as soon as the emergency stabilises, to the appropriate instruments to take over from
humanitarian assistance.

ECHO is in constant contact with its partners both at headquarters and field level, bilaterally and in the
framework of strategic programming dialogues. ECHO publishes on the internet its annual strategy,
the humanitarian strategy for individual countries, and executive summaries of Global Plans, decisions and
evaluations.

The table of the operational follow-up is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament’s
Secretariat.