BRUSSELS SUPPORTS SERBIA BECAUSE OF MIGRANTS

19. August 2015.

It was decided in Brussels today that the European Union should urgently send to Serbia 150,000 euros of aid for the reception of migrants. That was stated today in Presevo by Oskar Benedikt, the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia. Mr. Benedikt also announced that the aid amounting to 3 million and 200 thousand euros would be provided in the coming six months.

Basic hygiene items and food are still being provided at the Reception Center in Presevo.

“Water is needed the most, while we have enough food for some ten to fifteen days,” said Ahmet Haliti from the Red Cross branch office in Presevo.

Today, the European Union made the first step in Brussels by allocating 150 thousand euros to help Serbia with food and hygiene products, Mr. Benedikt pointed out, explaining that the assistance would be provided to the Reception Center for Migrants through the Red Cross.

Over the next six months, 3.2 million euros and will be sent to Serbia and the project worth 8 million euros, which will include migrants in Serbia and Macedonia, will be carried out too.

The representative of the European Union denied the rumors of the construction of the so-called large center for refugees. Mr. Benedikt said that the European Union was grateful to the Serbian authorities and local self-governments for the way they treated migrants, although he stressed that he was aware that none of them wanted to remain in Serbia.

‘The European Union monitors the situation in Serbia because the problem with migrants isn’t only the problem of Serbia, but it is the problem of the whole Europe, "said Mr. Benedikt.

Around 1,200 to 2,000 people per day still pass through the Reception Center in Presevo. What is different now compared to the previous period is that asylum certificates are now received in no more than a day of waiting. Otherwise, asylum seekers still need some food, medical assistance and a lot of water. That is what they mostly need in order to smoothly pass through the territory of Serbia, with the exception of asylum certificates, which they receive here.

Source: RTV Vojvodina 1 and Coordination Body