What happens in the countries in the Eastern Europe and in the Southern Caucasus affects the European Union. Successive EU enlargements have brought these countries closer to the EU and their security, stability and prosperity increasingly impact on the EU’s. The potential these countries offer for diversifying the EU’s energy supplies is one example.

No strategy for the reduction of poverty can ignore people’s vital requirements for water, and sustainable development policies must address the need for equitable and sustainable management of water resources in the interests of society as a whole. Therefore, at the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (WSSD), the EU launched a Water Initiative (EUWI) designed to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and WSSD targets for drinking water and sanitation, within the context of an integrated approach to water resources management. The EUWI is conceived as a catalyst and a foundation on which future action can be built to contribute to meeting the water and sanitation MDGs.

An Energy Facility worth EUR 220 million will increase access to modern energy services for people in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). It is a funding mechanism that will make it possible to use the leverage effect of development aid resources to attract funding from other financial sources. This is a significant contribution to the EU Energy Initiative that was launched at the World Summit for Social Development in Johannesburg in 2002.

In March 2004, the EU Council decided to consider allocating a total amount of € 500 million for an ACP-EU Water Facility, to be funded from the conditional €1 billion of the 9th EDF. The establishment of the ACP-EU Water Facility and its funding was endorsed by the ACP-EU Council of Ministers at its meetings in Gaborone in May 2004 and Luxemburg in June 2005. The two tranches of € 250 million each have been made available.

The European Union as a whole (i.e., the Member States and the Commission) is one of the world's main humanitarian aid donors; the Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) is the service of the European Commission responsible for this activity.The purpose of this website is to get across the message that people are our priority. Every month we have an eye-witness account from one of our operations in the field.

The European Union, composed of the Member States and the European Commission, is the world’s biggest aid donor. The Commission’s EuropeAid co-operation office manages EU external aid programmes and ensures that development assistance is delivered worldwide.