Is France "stingy"?

Just a side note re the US contribution to the relief effort; there is quite a bit more to it than just the $350 Million figure on which The Media have fixated.

U.N. muckety-muck Jan Egeland recently claimed that the US and other "rich" Western nations are "stingy" when it comes to providing money for humanitarian crises. He has now claimed his comment has been "misinterpreted."

Just looking at the pending tsunami disaster in Asia, the US has already pledged $35,000,000 in "preliminary aid" to the region. UK, Japan ($30 mil), Australia ($27 mil), Saudi Arabia ($10 mil), Germany ($2.7 mil), and Canada, have all pledged large sums. France has pledged $135,000.

Isn't France missing a couple of zeros in that sum? Not that it much matters, but they have lost 14 countrymen to this disaster, which is more than the 12 US citizens confirmed dead. Of course many are still missing, and the death toll is at 80,000 now and rising.

Are there any Francophiles out there who can explain this?

Quote:

French Tsunami Toll 14 Dead, 35 Missing-Minister

Tuesday, December 28, 2004 3:23:03 PM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - The number of French victims of southern Asia's tsunami disaster has risen to 14 and at least 35 people are missing after being swept away by giant waves, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said on Tuesday.

"At the moment I can say there are 14 French dead in this tragedy for sure, 35 or 37 missing who we are searching for and there are 105 French injured," he told France 2 television from the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, where he arrived with aid supplies earlier on Tuesday.

"There are probably dozens of French we are searching for and don't know where they are," he said.

"Many French and Europeans left on vacation without saying when or where they were going. So unfortunately we have to consider these numbers to be provisional."

Barnier was due to continue to Thailand on Wednesday morning to bring aid supplies and survey the damage from the giant wall of water triggered by an earthquake in Sumatra.

The French Defense Ministry was sending eight experts in identifying bodies and a military airplane that will fly over the Maldives and the Thai coast to search for people cut off by the flood and for the bodies of victims.

Paris has earmarked 100,000 euros ($135,400) for initial rescue efforts in Thailand. It planned to send 16 rescue workers to Thailand on Tuesday and 10 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka in the next few days, the ministry said. ($1=.7386 Euro)
© Reuters 2004. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

LINK

Tsunami aid likely to be given EU budget flexibility

06.01.2005 - 09:57 CET | By Honor Mahony The European Commission has indicated that it is not likely to punish EU countries that breach the rules governing the euro as a result of giving aid to victims of the tsunami disaster in south east Asia.

Spokesperson for monetary affairs Amelia Torres on Wednesday (6 January) said that the Commission was expected to treat the aid as an exception.

"All expenses must be counted during the assessment of the size of the budget deficit," she said, according to Reuters. "But the tsunami aid may be treated as an exceptional circumstance."

The European Commission is in charge of making sure that member states adhere to the euro rules - known as the stability pact. These say that countries may not run budget deficits of more than 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Ms Torres' comments came as Germany on Wednesday pledged 500m euro for the tsunami victims.

A country may escape being punished for breaching the stability pact if its deficit is caused by a natural disaster or severe economic recession.

Berlin has breached the stability pact three times in a row and is pushing for a more flexible interpretation of the rules to allow for the exclusion of certain types of spending, such as for reseach, from deficit calculations.

Court case?
Germany's repeated breaking of the pact rules is having repercussions elsewhere in the EU.

Liberal members of the European Parliament want to take the European Commission to court for letting Germany and the other serial pact breacher, France, off the hook last month.

In December, monetary affairs commission Joaquin Almunia announced that the Commission would not be pursuing excessive deficit procedures against Paris and Berlin although the countries may break the 3 per cent ceiling in 2005, as well.

The liberal group, the third biggest in the European Parliament, is using a paper by Cologne-based Professor Bernhard Kempen to back up their calls.

Professor Kempen concluded that the liberals would have a case for going to court.

Silvana Koch-Merin, leader of the German FDP faction in the Liberal group, said "Almunia buckled under pressure from the German and French governments. That is a scandal. The Commission is supposed to be the guardian of the [EU] treaties" .

The Liberals will now try and rally support from other groups in the European Parliament.

Quote:

Note the cartoon is linked to this story entitled "How the U.N. is Coordinating Aid to a Devastated Asia." What's it about? Basically, French resentment that the U.S. is making a bid at being the leader of a "humanitarian coalition" assisting the hundreds of thousands devastated by the massive seaquake. The short article is, encore, obsessed with the U.N. (read: France) having a major role! Yawn.

Australia raised its total aid pledge to US$810 million (euro610 million), the largest government contribution, topping Germany's euro500 million (US$660 million), followed by Japan and the United States.

The United States was the first to raise the aid race stakes last week by pledging US$350 million (euro263 million). It's now fourth on the donor list and has sent in an aircraft carrier group and thousands of troops. Japan promised $500 million (euro376.7 million) last week.

On the sidelines of the meeting, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the European Union will immediately donate euro100 million (US$132 million) for tsunami relief and look at setting up a euro1 billion (US$1.32 billion) loan for affected nations.

Barroso said he also would ask the European Parliament to approve another euro350 million (US$461 million) in aid for longer term reconstruction of devastated countries.

Donor nations must deliver on their pledges, says Annan
By Mike Corder, AP
06 January 2005


Getting aid to millions of tsunami victims is a race against time and nations must come forward immediately with the aid they've promised, The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today at an emergency summit.

World leaders have gathered in Indonesia, hardest hit by the 26 December disaster, to figure out the best way to speed aid to victims. While nearly US$4 billion (euro3 billion) has been pledged worldwide, the United Nations has warned some of the promises might not be honored as in previous disasters.

Annan urged nations to channel US$1.7 billion (euro1.3 billion) of the funds to the United Nations for relief, including US$977 million (euro740 million) for emergency aid.

"Whole communities have disappeared," Annan said, calling for the establishment of a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean. "Millions in Asia, Africa, and even in far away countries, are suffering unimaginable trauma and psychological wounds that will take a long time to heal. Families have been torn apart.

"The disaster was so brutal, so quick, and so far-reaching, that we are still struggling to comprehend it," Annan added, stressing the need for donor "pledges to be converted into cash quickly ... It is a race against time."

Quote:

Australia raised its total aid pledge to US$810 million (euro610 million), the largest government contribution, topping Germany's euro500 million (US$660 million), followed by Japan and the United States. ...

Now, if we were a boastful lot ..... :wink:

The private donation is huge here. Pity we are not so conscious of the need to help when people are just suffering in the normal way, eh?

And yes, re: the cartoon, it is aggravating to see that countries around the world are now sinking tons of money into aid - many countries, amongst others Australia and most EU countries, a higher per capita sum than the US as we have seen - but see the US be the major one to use it as a flag-waving, "let me do this, I know best, see all what we're doing" chest-thumping opportunity. Typical American, of course - or at least, right in line with the stereotypes about Americans - and hence all too well suited for a cartoon like this, alas.

Where exactly do you see this chest thumping taking place? [..] Perhaps if you paid less attention to American media you wouldn't see as much as you do.

dlowan wrote:

The private donation is huge here. Pity we are not so conscious of the need to help when people are just suffering in the normal way, eh?

Same here: more than 220 million € (300 million $) are privately donated until now - that's donated, not announced or so.

Same here: more than 220 million € (300 million $) are privately donated until now - that's donated, not announced or so.

Walter Hinteler wrote:

dlowan wrote:

The private donation is huge here. Pity we are not so conscious of the need to help when people are just suffering in the normal way, eh?

Same here: more than 220 million € (300 million $) are privately donated until now - that's donated, not announced or so.

If it hasn't been announced, how do you know about it and why are you posting about it?

how do you know about it and why are you posting about it?

Private donations (corporate and individual) are skyrocketing. I saw where Canada is sending alot, too. Corps are sending millions. That's why I asked about your figures, nimh. They are keeping up with private and corporate donations. Wanted to see the amounts--not so much to compare--but to tally.

McGentrix wrote:

Where exactly do you see this chest thumping taking place? [..] Perhaps if you paid less attention to American media you wouldn't see as much as you do.

Looks like you answered your own question there already. Oh, and there's A2K of course - and probly a million other boards with Americans just like you.

Walter Hinteler wrote:

dlowan wrote:

The private donation is huge here. Pity we are not so conscious of the need to help when people are just suffering in the normal way, eh?

Same here: more than 220 million € (300 million $) are privately donated until now - that's donated, not announced or so.

If it hasn't been announced, how do you know about it and why are you posting about it?