News ::

EU Adapts Aid in Haiti to Situation

EU financial support for aid transport reaches €2.8 million. The EU is to hold an informal high-level meeting on Haiti reconstruction. Civil protection assistance main focus is currently shelter. With rain & hurricane season starting in April, helpers are now seeking more permanent shelter solutions, including plastic sheeting. Sanitation is also a major concern at many spontaneous settlements. As to medical care, more specialists such as physiotherapists are needed to provide post-operative amputee care. The EU Civil Protection team is returning home, with 2 experts remaining to support, respectively, the UN & the Italian team. German, French & Italian teams are still in the field. The 2 EU Rapid Response Capability units – a water purification unit & an advanced medical post with surgery - continue operations in Port-au-Prince & Leogane until mid-February. Read more; Background 

Spanish President Zapatero Presents EU Spanish Presidency's Priorities to US

Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was in Washington, DC, as part of the rotating Presidency of the European Union. In the United States and at its institutions, Zapatero set out the EU Spanish Presidency's priorities and stressed the importance of Transatlantic relations. On Feb. 4, he participated in the 5th National Prayer Breakfast as a special guest, after which he attended a lunch and symposium at the US Chamber of Commerce and delivered an address to the Atlantic Council. Read more; Background

EU Election Assessment Team to Iraq

Following an invitation from the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), the European Commission has deployed an Election Assessment Team (EAT) to assess and analyze the upcoming Council of Representatives elections in Iraq to be held on March 7, 2010. Read more; EU Election Observers; Background