BRUSSELS, 2 MARCH 2016.  European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid & Crisis Management Christos Stylianides announced today an emergency programme to support refugees within Europe’s borders. The EU will allocate €700 million in three years and these resources will be deployed in close coordination with Member States, UN agencies, NGOs and international organisations, to provide basic needs such as food, shelter and medicine to the people in need arriving in EU countries.

In today’s press conference, Commissioner Stylianides stressed that these funds will be additional and will not be taken out of external humanitarian aid budgets.

Tamira Gunzburg, Brussels Director at ONE, said:

“Supporting refugees arriving in Europe must certainly be a priority for European leaders. We have been urging them to make sure the funding for this does not come at the cost of supporting the poorest and most vulnerable abroad.

We welcome Commissioner Stylianides’ announcement to provide additional financial assistance to prevent humanitarian suffering in Europe, and his assurances that the EU will do so without diverting external humanitarian or development funding. This proves once again that we can find ways to support the most vulnerable both here and abroad, and Member States should take the same approach.”

Only a few weeks ago, a large coalition of organisations including Oxfam, Eurodad, ONE, Dóchas, Global Citizen, Save the Children and Bond joined forces and call on leaders to make sure refugees are provided for while upholding programmes to fight poverty in the poorest countries.

 

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Notes to editors:

Contact, information & interviews – Andrea Ghianda // [email protected] // +32 (0)2 300 89 42 // +32 (0)471 89 64 22

European Commission PRESS RELEASE – Commission proposes new Emergency Assistance instrument for faster crisis response within the EU

European Commission – Fact Sheet – Questions and Answers: An instrument for Emergency assistance within the Union

ABOUT ONE: ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organisation of over 7 million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Not politically partisan, we raise public awareness and press political leaders to combat AIDS and preventable diseases, increase investments in agriculture and nutrition, and demand greater transparency in poverty-fighting programmes. Read more at www.one.org.

PROTECT THE POOREST – The Campaign
ONE, Oxfam, Global Citizen and others have launched a joint petition to ask European leaders to meet the needs of refugees arriving at our borders without doing so at the expense of the world’s poorest. The organizations are calling on governments to make sure aid is focused on fighting extreme poverty and prioritizes the countries and people that have the least. So far nearly 110,000+ people have signed the petition. Read more