EU steps up humanitarian assistance for Syria crisis

The European Union (EU) increased its assistance to the Syria crisis by 136 million euros (about 154 U.S. dollars) in humanitarian funding, the European Commission announced here on Thursday.

Half of the funding was to go to meeting needs within Syria via cross-border assistance from neighboring countries, and the other half to Syrian refugees and host communities in neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. This included 37 million euros to Lebanon and 20 million euros to Jordan in 2015.

"We remain fully committed to continue bringing relief to the most needy victims of this crisis - that is why we are stepping up our assistance," said EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides.

Stylianides and Johannes Hahn, the commissioner for European neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations, left Wednesday for a joint four-day visit to Jordan and Lebanon.

Hahn said in addition to stepping up efforts to address the consequences of the Syrian crisis, the EU remained fully committed to bilateral cooperation with Jordan and Lebanon and would continue to work closely with both governments to support them in their ongoing reforms in key sectors such as renewable energy and justice.

The European Union, along with its Member States, is one of the leaders of the international humanitarian response to the Syria crisis, having mobilized over 3.25 billion euros in assistance. The European Commission alone has already provided 681 million euros in humanitarian funding. Endit