On 19 September 2012, the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation establishing, for the first time, the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps. Its objective is to express the EU's humanitarian values and solidarity with people in need, through the promotion of an effective and visible EU Aid Corps, which strengthens the EU's capacity to respond to humanitarian crises and to build the capacity and resilience of vulnerable or disaster-affected communities beyond the EU. The Commission’s approach is to make it complementary to existing structures and organisations and avoid duplication of effort. The actions of the Corps are to be guided by humanitarian principles (the European Humanitarian Aid Consensus), although some humanitarian partners have expressed doubts about the initiative, specifically about the genuine added value and financing.
In preparing the report, lessons have been learned from the various pilot projects carried out in the past or still under way which are linked to the proposal. Therefore, EU aid volunteers will be only be deployed in humanitarian aid operations in third countries in response to man-made crises or natural disasters and never in cases of armed conflicts or internal disturbances. A forum for consultation, bringing together representatives of the Commission, EU countries and the sending/hosting organisations, should be established when the programme is launched.