The European Commission decided to provide conflict-torn Iraq with financial aid worth 5 million euros although the executive apprised that “finding access to desperate civilians, not funding, was the most urgent problem”. Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Kristlina Georgieva, announced an increase in foreign aid to Iraq so that the total amount from EU28 will have reached 17 million euros by the end of this year. Ms. Georgieva also stressed that the money was intended to help hundreds of thousands of Iraqi nationals of all minority groups throughout the country including the groups displaced in the Sinjar Mountains that had been surrounded by jihadists in northern Iraq. According to her, the current security situation in Iraq constitutes the most pressing problem that the world is facing today despite a myriad of emergencies unfolding at a “magnitude not known since the great wars in Europe”.
Mrs Georgieva, who has been shortlisted for the position of the chief of European diplomacy in November, announced an increase in humanitarian assistance as negotiators from EU Member States were meeting to coordinate the EU’s common action on Ukraine, Gaza, and Iraq. When Commissioner Georgieva was asked whether further courageous moves were needed in Iraq, she replied that humanitarian organizations could only ensure “seed money” adding that “humanitarian aid can only go that far”. Ms. Georgieva also stressed that it was dangerous for humanitarian workers to pry beyond their mandate and thus risk the neutrality and reputation of humanitarian missions, while pointing out that any assistance must meet strict international standards of neutrality, referring to the latest Russian decision to send a humanitarian convoy to eastern Ukraine.
