EU announces 700-mn-euro aid plan for migrant crisis

The European Union announced Wednesday unprecedented plans to provide Greece and other member states with 700 million euros in emergency humanitarian aid to cope with the migrant crisis.

The funds will be allocated over three years, with 300 million euros in 2016, and 200 million euros in each of the following years, EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides said.

"No time can be lost in deploying all means possible to prevent humanitarian suffering within our own borders. Today's proposal will make 700 million euros ($760 million) available to provide help where it is most needed," Stylianides said in a statement.

"With this proposal, we will be able to deliver emergency assistance for crises much faster than before, inside the European Union. Right now, there's no doubt that this will be particularly needed to support refugees."

Greece has asked for around 480 million euros ($520 million) to help shelter 100,000 refugees as Europe faces its biggest wave of refugees since World War II in a crisis that has sown deep discord and threatened the bloc's solidarity.

• NATO's top General Philip Breedlove warned that the massive flow of people into the EU particularly from war-torn Syria has had a destabilising effect.

He specifically pointed the finger of blame at Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and his backer Russia, accusing them of turning the migrant crisis into a "weapon" against the West.

"Together, Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve," Breedlove told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Greece has been struggling to cope with the influx of migrants who have been arriving en masse from neighboring Turkey.

EU humanitarian aid commissioner Christos Stylianides said on Twitter that he would Wednesday propose "an instrument for emergency assistance inside the EU." He confirmed that "Greece asks for more assistance for stranded refugees ... I call on all member states to contribute further."

The money will come from aid funds that would normally be spent on humanitarian emergencies outside the bloc.

A Greek source told AFP said about half the total would go on accommodating 50,000 refugees in camps while the rest would go on hotels and lodgings.

Greece says looking after the migrants will require around 8,200 officials — police, firemen, medical staff, field workers and translators...
  [ i24news.tv]
2/3/16
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 Related:

• FYROM [***] defends use of tear gas against migrants

• Le Canada a tenu sa promesse d'accueillir 25 000 réfugiés syriens

• France begins bulldozing part of 'Jungle' refugee camp. Tear gas fired at Greece- FYROM [***] border 

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• La Russie et la Syrie utilisent délibérément le flot des réfugiés syriens comme une arme pour déstabiliser l'Europe, a accusé mardi le chef des forces de l'Otan en Europe, le général Philip Breedlove.