Monday, August 16, 2010

European Union to beef up emergency aid program

BRUSSELS: The European Union says it is considering forming a task force to better coordinate its emergency aid in the future, after the French president criticized the union for its response following Pakistan's devastating flooding.

EU spokesman Ferran Tarandellas Espuny said Monday the bloc is debating how to ''reinforce our disaster response capability.''

It follows criticism by French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the weekend that EU's euro40 million ($51 million) in humanitarian aid following the flooding in Pakistan was insufficient.

Aid for Pakistan from all donors has fallen far short of an appeal by the United Nations for nearly $460 million in emergency assistance for victims of the country's worst floods in living memory.

Sarkozy said the 27-member union must react better and more quickly to events like Pakistan's flooding, Haiti's earthquake or Russian forest fires. -AP

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