The European Union will make humanitarian funds immediately available to Serbia, so as to meet the basic needs of people affected by floods, whereas during the reconstruction phase, the country will be able to apply for unused pre-accession funds, and the EU solidarity fund, in case the damage costs exceed EUR175 million, the EU Commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response Kristalina Georgieva said in Belgrade
Commissioner toured Obrenovac on Wednesday to see first-handedly the scale of flooding and than visited civil protection teams from Czech Republic, Germany, and France, engaged in protecting the Kostolac thermal power plant from floods, by using high capacity pumps critical for electricity production.
She said that operational teams will remain in Kostolac for as long as their assistance is needed, in order to eliminate the danger of high water level.
“I am proud that the EU team was a part of the flood defence crew formed by Serbian authorities, and special thanks go to (these) teams. There is more work ahead, but we hope that the worst is behind us,” said Georgieva in Kostolac.
According to her, there is a hard work of draining the water that threatens houses, infrastructural objects, power plants, but also an arduous job of helping people.
Georgieva handed over two generators, intended for areas that have been left out of electricity. “This is the assistance we are delivering now, immediately,” Georgieva said.
After the meeting with Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, Georgieva said Tuesday she was proud that several hundreds of rescuers from the EU member states “are taking part side by side with their Serbian colleagues” in the current phase of rescuing lives and protecting the property, using water pumps, purification units, water rescue boats, helicopters, and other equipment that was transferred shortly after Serbia’s request had been received.
“The second stage implies meeting the humanitarian needs of flood-affected women, children, men, families. This means providing water, food, shelter, beds, and mattresses. This will be our gesture of solidarity,” Georgieva told reporters.
Repairing the flood damage and reconstruction will take more time, and this is when Serbia will be able to apply for the EU solidarity fund, if the assessment shows that the damage is higher than EUR175 million.
“This assistance would be a part, a fraction of this damage as it is assessed, it would not cover the whole damage, but it would cover a part of the damage to help Serbia recover”, said Commissioner Georgieva, and explained that applying for this fund takes up to ten weeks, because the application has to be based on a precise damage assessment, whereas the final decision is made after two to three months.
What Serbia can do is to immediately look at funds that have been made available but have not been used over the last years as part of association program of the EU,” otherwise known as IPA funds, Georgieva said.
“The European Union stands by you in these difficult times,” she said, adding that by now, the EU has offered more assistance than Serbia had asked for, and that they will continue doing so. She also said that Serbia, being a candidate country, enjoys same rights and privileges as any other EU member state, when it comes to disasters such as this one.
