15/8/2003
Serbia: Commission approves Last Humanitarian Decision

The European Commission has adopted a €1 million humanitarian decision to help meet the needs of vulnerable refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in Serbia during the coming winter. The humanitarian assistance provided will consist of heating fuel and coal for almost 20,000 refugees and IDPs living in collective accommodation in Serbia. As a result of the timely adoption of this decision, it is expected that all the heating needs of the 247 collective centres currently in operation will be covered during the 2003-2004 winter. The funds will be allocated via the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office, ECHO, to an international NGO operating in the country.

After a decade of conflict and humanitarian crisis there has been progress towards stabilisation and economic reform in Serbia and the Balkans over the past two years. Since the transition process was triggered by the fall of the Milosevic regime in 2000, humanitarian agencies have been gradually scaling back their relief operations in the region. ECHO is currently phasing out its humanitarian interventions in the Balkans, opening the way for other Commission services to provide longer-term assistance. Between 2000 and 2003, ECHO finalised its interventions in Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In March this year, ECHO allocated €6.6 million to help provide food and support for durable solutions for refugees and IDPs in Serbia (see IP/03/395). This €1m decision is expected to be the last humanitarian decision for Serbia, as the process of reconstruction and development is underway. ECHO has contributed more than €219 million in humanitarian aid to Serbia since 1999 and over €2.3 billion in humanitarian aid to the Balkans region since 1992.