EU pledges more than €3 billion for Syrians in 2016 at the London conference
The European Union and its Member States today pledged more than €3 billion to assist the Syrian people inside Syria as well as refugees and the communities hosting them in neighbouring countries during 2016. From its budget alone, the EU will spend 2.4 billion in 2016/2017.
The pledge triples the EU support offered at the last donor conference in Kuwait on 31 March 2015, and comes on top of the €5 billion that the EU has already committed in response to the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.
The announcement was made at the 'Supporting Syria and the Region' conference hosted by the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations by the President of the European Council Donald Tusk i and High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini i.
Mogherini underlined that only a political solution would put an end to the immense suffering experienced by the Syrian people and reiterated the EU's full support to the efforts undertaken by UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura to ensure constructive peace talks.
“We share a duty to focus today and tomorrow - when the conference will be over - on the people of Syria.
“And we all have difficult decisions to make, in order to be consistent and honour our responsibilities on both tracks we have in front of us: the humanitarian one - and the fragile, difficult, very difficult but still existent political process, built with patience and courage in Vienna, in New York, in Geneva, and next week in Munich.
“And let me also say very clearly that those who still believe that there can be a military solution to this war should wake up, should simply wake up. The only way to save Syria and to save Syrians is to implement the roadmap set by all of us in the International Support Group and endorse for the first time ever after five years of war the Security Council resolution unanimously adopted in December, implemented in all its parts.
“The EU as the major donor for Syria - the major donor - and as a major political diplomatic player in the region feels this sense of urgency. And let me say, we expect this sense of urgency to be shared by all in the region and international community.
“Today the European Union pledges €2.4 billion of EU budget alone for 2016 and 2017. This is more than twice what we pledged at the last conference in Kuwait, and this is only from the EU budget. On top of that come the national interventions.
“But let me say that money alone will not make it. You know it better than me. If you have the money, you have the humanitarian aid, you do not have access and we do not have a political horizon, we will meet here again next year with more money and no solution. We do this anyway. We do this to support Syrians inside Syria. We do this for Syrians hosted in the neighbouring countries: in Jordan, in Lebanon, in Turkey.
“Jordan and Lebanon are still rocks in the Middle Eastern storm: investing in their resilience and their sustainability, in the sustainability of their policies is also an investment in our own security, in our own future.
“It is our collective responsibility to make today a day of hope as the Chancellor [Merkel i] mentioned this morning, and to turn hope into reality. To bring peace in Syria and to rebuild the country. The European Union is ready,” Mogherini concluded.
Over the past five years, the war has claimed more than 250,000 lives, most of them civilians, while over 18 million people are in need of assistance, including 13.5 million inside Syria. The war has led to major displacements inside the country (6.5 million internally-displaced) and beyond. With over 4.6 million people having fled primarily to Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, the war has had a deep impact on Syria's neighbours.
The continued hospitality and generosity of Syria's neighbours and especially the communities hosting the refugees is widely appreciated by the international community. The EU today announced its intention to significantly increase its support in particular to Lebanon and Jordan, the two countries with the largest number of refugees in terms of proportion of refugees to the host population. The EU is ready to start negotiating 'EU Compacts' with both countries, to strengthen its political, economic, trade and social ties in addition to improving the living conditions of refugees and affected host communities.
Link to the video: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=I115876
PRESS RELEASE - EU pledges more than €3 billion for Syrians in 2016 at the London conference: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-245_en.htm
Topics