Today, Renew Europe’s Coordinator on the DEVE Committee, Charles Goerens, congratulated Commissioner-designate for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, after being heard by both DEVE and ENVI Committees, where he re-affirmed his commitments to support people in need, as rapidly and efficiently as possible, in full respect of EU humanitarian aid policy principles. Janez Lenarčič made it clear to the MEPs he will work to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of EU’s crisis response to reach the maximum number of people in need.
Renew Europe MEP, Charles Goerens, welcomes Lenarčič’s intention to strengthen the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre and pushed in his intervention for the impartiality and autonomy of the decision-making process:
“It is vital for the EU to have a strong and efficient Emergency Response Coordination Centre in order to respond swiftly and effectively to a wide range of crisis. All of our actions must respect humanitarian principles and we need to advocate globally in support of international humanitarian law. For too long humanitarian actors are increasingly being targeted and their access to people in need regularly blocked.
Impartiality is essential in the field of humanitarian aid and the EU’s actions must be based on independent, autonomous decision-making process, in line with the other main principles of humanity, dignity and neutrality."
The Renew Europe Group’s Deputy-Coordinator in ENVI Committee, Véronique Trillet- Lenoir, choose to tackle one of the health aspects of the crisis management portfolio by asking a question on vector-borne diseases:
“Today, more than 80% of the world's population is threatened by vector-borne infectious diseases. This threat is now concerning Europe. These insects now invade new territories in Europe and epidemics of dengue, malaria, Nile fever and chikungunya are present in Croatia, Greece, Italy and France.
I welcome the intention of the Commissioner-designate to improve the early warning system amongst European agencies, to increase awareness of the potential risks among healthcare workers and the public and to adopt innovative control strategies at European level to fight against the proliferation of mosquitoes. We must anticipate the outbreaks of those diseases across Europe.”
