Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations

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The Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), formerly known as the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office, is the European Commission's department for overseas humanitarian aid and for civil protection. It aims to save and preserve life, prevent and alleviate human suffering and safeguard the integrity and dignity of populations affected by natural disasters and man-made crises.^[1] Since September 2019, Janez Lenarčič is serving as Commissioner for Crisis Management in the Von der Leyen Commission, and since 1 March 2023,^[2] Maciej Popowski leads the organisation as the Director-General.

The EU budget of the department as programmed in the EU's Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 amounts to a total of €9.76 billion for the entire seven years.^[3] For 2021, the European Commission has adopted its initial annual humanitarian budget of €1.4 billion.^[4] Together with its Member States, DG ECHO is a leading humanitarian donor, allocating funding to millions of crisis-affected people in more than 80 countries.^[5]

For its humanitarian interventions, DG ECHO usually funds operations through a wide range of around 200 partners (NGOs, UN agencies, and international organisations such as the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.^[6] DG ECHO has a strong presence in the field, with a network of some 450 staff in over 500 field offices spread in 40 countries.^[7] The field offices provide analysis of existing and forecasted needs in a given country or region, contribute to the development of intervention strategies and policy development, provide technical support to EU-funded operations, and ensure monitoring of these interventions and facilitate donor's coordination at field level.^[8]

In addition to providing funding to humanitarian aid, DG ECHO is also in charge of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism ^[9] to coordinate the response to disasters in Europe and beyond and contributes to at least 75% of the transport and/or operational costs of deployments. Established in 2001, the Mechanism fosters cooperation among national civil protection authorities across Europe. Currently 37 countries are members of the Mechanism; all 27 EU Member States in addition to Iceland, Norway, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Turkey, Albania, Moldova, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[10] The Mechanism was set up to enable coordinated assistance from the participating states to victims of natural and man-made disasters in Europe and elsewhere.