At the Donors’ Conference in Brussels, two thirds out of EUR995 million were pledged by European Union, its institutions and Member States, for Serbia to deal with the aftermath of floods. Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport told RTS that Serbia would receive EUR80 million of grants from IPA funds, but would also gain access to EU Solidarity Fund as if it were a Member State, but that sum was yet unknown and would depend on damage assessment.
“We have allocated EUR30 million of IPA funds for this year and, as Štefan Füle said on Wednesday at the Conference in Brussels, EUR50 million will be allocated from additional IPA funds, but these allocations do not mark the end of assistance,” Davenport told RTS’ Morning News.
Member States have offered additional EUR10-15 million of assistance.
“Some of the EU Member States, such as the Netherlands and UK, have offered additional grants, and were joined by other non-EU countries such as Switzerland and Norway,” Davenport said.
As far as the loans go, European Investment Bank and EBRD have offered affordable loans, but the exact terms will depend on each of the institutions, he added.
EIB and EBRD have pledged over EUR500 million in loans in order to help Serbia dealing with the aftermath of floods, meaning that the EU, its institutions and Member States, would practically provide two thirds of the overall support mobilised at the Donors’ Conference.
According to Ambassador Davenport, the fact that the Conference pledged higher amount of money than expected “is a message of solidarity by the international community”.
“Another positive message is that this was a joint Conference for Serbia and BiH, attended by the president of both countries,” Davenport said.
“I think Serbia had rather professionally based its needs on the damage assessment, the one done in cooperation with the World Bank, UN and EU,” Davenport said.
Speaking about deadlines, he said that the EU was ready to start the work and the first agreement has already been signed.
“This is primarily about three areas. First area concerns rehabilitation and reconstruction at the municipality level, second area concerns agriculture, whereas the third area is about the reconstruction of private houses,” Davenport said.
“We want everybody to start working right away,” Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia added.
When it comes to funds management, Davenport said this would also be done in close cooperation with colleagues engaged in Serbian Government’s structures in charge of IPA funds.
At the Conference, Serbia also received large donations and highly affordable loan offers from the World Bank, Council of Europe Development Bank, Switzerland, Japan, Norway and Russia.
Watch Ambassador Davenport’s RTS appearance here.
