The European Humanitarian Forum (EHF 2023) was held on Monday, March 20, 2023, in Brussels, with the participation of the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Mr. Christos Stylianides, representing Greece. During the event, it was announced Greece’s contribution towards humanitarian aid in 2023 will amount to approximately 1.6 million euros.
In his speech, Minister Stylianides pointed out that in the face of the enormous challenges of the time, such as the war in Ukraine and the climate crisis, the European Union has a moral obligation to remain a leading force in the field of humanitarian aid.
He emphasized that it is imperative to develop a stable European strategy and policies by adopting a new emergency approach that goes beyond traditional methods and called for further strengthening of the European Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) and rescEU.
The Forum was organized by the Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (DG ECHO) of the European Commission, in collaboration with the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU, with the aim of strengthening cooperation in promoting innovative, sustainable and effective approaches to addressing global humanitarian challenges, which are constantly increasing.
This year’s Forum brought together over 2000 participants from EU Member States, international organisations, humanitarian partners, third countries and other stakeholders and provided an opportunity to further strengthen cooperation and partnership among participants.
During the event, EU Member States, along with the European Commission announced the planned humanitarian funding of €8.4 billion for 2023, as a concrete expression of global solidarity and of the EU’s leading role in humanitarian action.
The event took place in synergy with the International Donors’ Conference “Together for the people in Türkiye and Syria”.
The speech delivered by Minister Christos Stylianides is available here.