Brussels, 29/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 29 July, the European Commission announced that a further €11 million in emergency aid has been pledged by the Commission to help Greece (€7.8 million) and Italy (€3.2 million) deal with the refugee crisis.
The money comes from the asylum, migration and integration fund (AMIF) and the internal security fund (ISF) to strengthen the reception and registration capacity in Greece and support search and rescue activities by Italy at sea.
Some €7.3 million will be awarded to the Greek reception and identification service to strengthen the capacity of reception and medical services in Greece and in particular in the Aegean Islands. An extra €500,000 is awarded to improve the water supply network and sewage system connection at the reception and identification centre in Samos. With this extra funding, the emergency assistance awarded for activities in Greece adds up to around €353 million since the start of 2015. This emergency funding comes on top of the €509 million already allocated to Greece under the national programmes for 2014-2020 (€294.5 million from AMIF and €214.7 million from ISF).
For Italy, €2.2 million is being awarded to the Italian coast guard to support search and rescue activities at sea, and €1 million is being awarded to the Italian navy to support the purchase of equipment and protective clothing, in order to deal safely with the medical screening of migrants after their rescue at sea, says the Commission. These measures bring the total emergency assistance awarded by the Commission this year to support the Italian authorities as well as international organisations operating in Italy to €24.5 million. This comes on top of the €592.6 million already reserved to Italy under the national programmes for 2014-2020 (€347.7 million from AMIF and €244.9 million from ISF). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)