This paper analyses the decision to allocate funds from the European Union, more particularly DG ECHO, in the field of humanitarian aid to third countries. Little research focuses on the factors that guide such decisions to allocate funds. It is this grey area that this research explores to depict the different factors (external and internal) within the EU environment that could explain the amounts given, such as the geographical proximity or the vertical and horizontal coherence. The paper will demonstrate the range of these factors compared to a strictly need-based approach. To do so, two case studies of Palestine and Ukraine have been chosen to answer the following research question: Under which conditions does the European Union invest in humanitarian aid and what determines the amount of aid?
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