4 hours agoEU allocates 1 billion euros to help rebuild in Turkey, Syria
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)The European Union allocates 1 billion euros to help rebuild Turkey”, the European Commission's president said at the Donors Conference following the devastating earthquake that claimed the lives of over 50,000 people in Turkey and neighbouring Syria. “Miliona are now homeless and live in tents, while winter drags on”, Ursula von der Leyen said in [...]
“Miliona is now homeless and living in tents, while winter drags on”, Ursula von der Leyen said at the beginning of the conference.
We must mobilize for reconstruction. Houses, schools and hospitals must be rebuilt with the highest standards of seismic security. Water-canalation and other critical infrastructure must be repaired. Public services and businesses need capital to resume, so that people can earn a living”, the EC president added.
The Commission will spend another 108m euros on humanitarian aid and early recovery in Syria, where the European Union has no diplomatic ties with President Bashar al-Assad after the war that started in 2011. Sweden's Prime Minister Wolf Cristersson, the conference in his role as EU Council Presidencys, and said his country allocates 45m euros to support humanitarian, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in the two hit countries.
The United Nations Development Programme praised the total financial barrier of earthquake disaster” for Turkey at around $103.6 billion and said it reached 9% of GDP projected for 2023. Addressing the Brussels conference through video connection, President Tayyip Erdogan welcomed support and said Turkey targets high-quality and secure buildings during reconstruction efforts: “This conference is another indicator of the strong foundations of relations between our countries. Your contributions during the conference will help us in our efforts to heal wounds and achieve a complete recovery from the earthquake. Because the real war, our real war begins now. We plan to deliver 319,000 homes in the first year and 650 thousand homes in total later. It is not possible for a single nation to face a crisis of this magnitude. We will never forget the solidarity that all our friends have shown in these difficult days”.
The tragedy of the earthquake and this donor conference comes in the context of several-year EU charges against Erdogan for human rights violations. The bloc's ties with Turkey are tense due to Ankara's crackdown on instability following a 2016 coup. Turkey has blocked and an EU member Sweden bid to join NATO in the long run of Russia's war against Ukraine.
