Humanitarian aid

Adopting the report by Mrs SAUQUILLO PEREZ DEL ARCO (PSE, E), the Committee on Development and Cooperation approved the Council's common position. The common position incorporates Parliament's amendments seeking to strengthen coordination with international organizations and NGOs, clarify certain conditions of NGO access to Community funding and instruct the Commission to monitor and evaluate humanitarian actions. In addition, Parliament will receive better information in the form of annual reports on humanitarian aid operations. The Committee on Development and Cooperation approved the provisions seeking to extend funding to humanitarian mine-clearing operations, including awareness campaigns for local communities on anti-personnel mines, the possibility for the Commission to decide on emergency interventions costing no more than ECU 10 million and the possibility for the Commission and Member States to evaluate humanitarian actions and plans jointly However, it rejected the comitology procedure adopted by the Council, which was in favour of a type IIIa committee and also called for humanitarian operations to be exempt from taxes, charges, duties and customs duties.�