By Martin Banks - 3rd February 2010
We need to use this as an opportunity to learn how we can do better
Kristalina Georgieva
Bulgaria's new commissioner-designate says the EU should use the Haitian disaster to "learn how we can do better".
Speaking at her confirmation hearing in parliament on Wednesday, Kristalina Georgieva said the EU had responded to the crisis with "excellent cooperation".
Georgieva, the nominee to the international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response portfolio, added, "But we also need to use this as an opportunity to learn how we can do better.
"We need to do an evaluation of the outcome of this and other crises and then, in a very open and inclusive consultative spirit, draw lessons and feed them back into the organisation of our work."
She told MEPs, "As the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake has shown we must further strengthen the governance of European and international humanitarian aid and the overall response capacities of the system."
The EU has come under fire in some quarters for lacking "visibility" in Haiti, particularly compared with the US.
She went on, "Haiti is an example of the necessity to be clear about the respective roles of military and humanitarian actors in a humanitarian crisis."
She said that, if approved, it would be a "priority" to establish a European voluntary humanitarian aid corps as provided for under the Lisbon treaty, and to make "progress on strengthening the EU disaster response capacity".
She said parliament was a "critical partner" in guiding work in the new portfolio to which she brought "two decades of professional experience from around the world".
"The lessons learned from Haiti, the earthquake in Italy and tropical storms in the Pacific will provide us with important information," said Georgieva.
Having grown up in the "shadow" of communism she hailed the EU as a "beacon of hope for the 21st century", saying it was a "tremendous honour" to be nominated.
If, as expected, she is approved, it will take Jose Manuel Barroso's incoming commission a step closer to taking up its mandate.
Her nomination followed the withdrawal last month of Bulgaria's former foreign minister, Rumiana Jeleva.
MEPs had made it clear they would not back Jevela after her weak performance before the development committee.
A vice-president of the World Bank, Georgieva is seen as a much stronger candidate. MEPs will vote on the new commission in Strasbourg next Tuesday.
Only then can the new commission take office, ending a delay of more than three months in which the outgoing executive has been working in a caretaker capacity.
