A new beginning for Haiti, a new start for our development cooperation
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News coverage from Haiti tells a story of chaos and despair in the wake of the massive earthquake that struck the country on January 12; but disasters on this scale - which with a death toll of nearly 200,000 dead is one of the worst in history - raise also the sense of responsibility and commitment from others countries, bring out the best in people, and force to rethink the future.
In this first day of my new mandate as Commissioner for Development, I would like to share with you some thoughts about the last three weeks and draw some conclusions on the actions undertaken by the EU and the ones foreseen in the near future.
From day one of the disaster, the international community was ready to react by providing aid, care, and immediate assistance to Haitian people. The European Commission was very quick in coordinating its activities with Member States to ensure coherence and effectiveness of the actions at EU level. But we can always improve in terms of better coordinating our efforts and I am determined to take lessons from this disaster. Our contributions on the ground, under the UN leadership and in partnership with other countries, have led to concrete results. We have not concentrated on being frontline in the media, but we were on the front line on the ground to help the people of Haiti.
A lot of money was and is pouring in Haiti from around the world. The EU - Commission and Member States- has pledged €212 million in short term emergency relief aid to date. This is important, but only the tip of the iceberg of the efforts that will remain.
We are all aware that the road to recovery is still a very long one. Neither the money alone nor the willingness to help will be sufficient to ensure a better future for this country. The real challenge now is to help the Haitians to build a real and sustainable future for themselves. This drama has showed that public support is there when it is needed, that people are ready to help, react and contribute, despite economic downturn. And we have to understand that the consequences of this earthquake will not be solved in months, but in many years.
This drama has also highlighted the importance of acting together. Which country could handle such a large-scale human, environmental, social, economic, and political catastrophe alone? .And this will become even clearer in the next steps, when the EU, along with other international actors, will have to tackle the huge challenges of long-term reconstruction and sustainable development. Europe will be there long after the media attention has gone to ensure the rebuilding of a new Haiti. At the moment, the European Commission alone has already identified a package of more than 300 million euro, and more aid is foreseen in the coming months.
This is the moment when, as Development Commissioner, I will have a key role to play because it is here where the concept of Development cooperation comes into action. Development is about long-term process and progress with our partners, first and foremost Haitian people. It will not be just a question of pledging money and planning actions, it will be a question of working together with Haitian Government, the UN and other partners. We will need to develop a constructive partnership with Haitian people, and to help them become main actors in the rebuilding process. Our first priority will be to rebuild the Government's capacities. We start from scratch since, at the moment, they don't even have Ministries' offices. We will then prepare the International Pledging conference that should take place shortly to establish a plan for the reconstruction. My first meeting as Commissioner for Development will be with the Ambassador of Haiti in Belgium whom I'll meet tomorrow.
Partnership - with Haiti and with developing countries in general - will be a key concept for my mandate as I strongly believe that this is the only way to turn the aid we give to concrete results.
I hope that this blog will help to tell the story of development over the course of my mandate as European Commissioner. Not just the story of Haiti, but also the EU's work across the world.
Andris Piebalgs