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EU announces to release further 13 mln euros aid for refugees in Western Balkans

Xinhua, December 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

The European Union (EU) is to release further emergency humanitarian aid of 13 million euros (14.22 million U.S. dollars), aimed at supporting refugees along the Western Balkans route, the European Commission said Thursday.

The support will principally go to refugees in Serbia and Macedonia. With the announcement, total EU humanitarian aid to the Western Balkans now stands at 21.74 million euros.

"Given the harsh winter conditions many refugees are facing along the Western Balkans route, this additional humanitarian aid will provide people in need with key essentials such as temporary shelter, food, health, water and sanitation. It will help reduce the pressure on the over-stretched capacities of the most affected countries," said EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides.

The new funding had been made available following the decision of the European Parliament, which was set to be formally approved by the meeting of European Council next week.

The latest funds announced on Thursday came in addition to the 7 million euros of humanitarian aid allocated from this year's 200 euros million increase of the EU humanitarian budget for the Syria and Iraq crisis. An initial amount of 1.74 million euros had been provided earlier in 2015. Enditem