Speech by Commissioner Lahbib at the Irish EU Affairs Committee

It is a pleasure to be with you during Ireland's Presidency at an important moment for Europe and for the security of our citizens.

Earlier this year I was in Goma, in eastern Congo. I met families who had fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs, but their story is part of a much bigger picture. Around 130 conflicts are active today, more than double fifteen years ago.

Nearly 240 million people need humanitarian aid this year. If they were a country, it would be one of the largest in the world. Conflict drives about 70% of these needs and increasingly aid itself is being used as a weapon of war. Roads are blocked, convoys are stopped, food and medicine are kept from the people who need them.

The system is under pressure. International humanitarian law is treated like a buffet table: take what you like, leave the rest. Funding cuts are making everything harder.

But Europe is standing firm. Together, as Team Europe, we remain one of the world's largest humanitarian donors. Reliable. Predictable. Principled.

Our focus is clear: protect aid workers and humanitarian access, make aid work better, and bring more partners on board, including the private sector.

Today I will focus on humanitarian diplomacy, the next EU budget, and how we prepare Europe for a more dangerous world.

I have seen what humanitarian diplomacy can achieve in Africa, Ukraine, the Middle East, and Latin America. In the darkest corners of the world, it can still open a road, lift a checkpoint, and get food and medicine to people who have lost everything.

In the Great Lakes region, I sat down with presidents, ministers, and AFC/M23. When lives are at stake, we must speak to those who hold the keys. My message was the same everywhere: respect international humanitarian law, protect civilians, protect aid workers, and let aid through. That diplomacy delivered results.