United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Jan Eliasson, is hosted by EU
foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, in Brussels. He has lobbied her,
and a number of EU Commissioners to gather more support in dealing with
various crises around the world. The UN points out that €4.7bn was pledged
by 50 countries last October to help the stricken Palestinians in the
war-torn Gaza strip but so far only a fraction of the MONEY
<http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/02/04/396041/UN-asks-EU-for-greater-support#>
has
been paid.
The 50-day assault last summer by Israeli forces on Gaza killed thousands
of civilians including women and children. Campaigners say the EU should
hold Israel to ACCOUNT
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for
the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the oppression of Palestine.
The EU has also been accused of providing a lacklustre response to other
humanitarian crises that have resulted from conflicts in Syria, Iraq,
Ukraine and Central African Republic, to name but a few.
Critics say that unless major reforms take place it will never be possible
for the European Union to respond quickly and effectively to any given
crisis. This is because the bloc's 28 MEMBER
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states
have their own foreign policies and so formulating a coordinated approach
is complicated by politics and therefore takes time.