Brussels, 08/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 8 October, the European Commission announced that Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) will receive €17 million from the EU in order to tackle the unprecedented flows of Syrian refugees and migrants.
The Commission's announcement was made ahead of the ministerial conference on the Eastern Mediterranean-Western Balkans route, which was held in Luxembourg on Thursday (see EUROPE 11405).
From this funding, €10 million will be to help Serbia and FYROM respond effectively to the migrant crisis and to strengthen their capacity to implement their migration policy - in particular, to ensure the management of migrant flows. This funding results from a special measure adopted by the Commission on Thursday in response to the proposals put forward by both countries, and in response to the findings of an exploratory mission conducted by the Commission in September.
The remaining €7 million comes from humanitarian aid to be released urgently from the €200 million previously announced for 2015. This €7 million will enable refugees to be provided with basic services as winter approaches (food, hygiene, health care, psycho-social care, temporary shelter, protection for migrants and refugees, and the coordination and collection of data on migration routes). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)