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The European Parliament discussed ways to provide aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina after the catastrophic floods

by AI | 09.Oct 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The European Parliament discussed the devastating floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina in a plenary session, with Croatian MEP Željana Zovko emphasizing the EU’s duty to mobilize all available resources to help the candidate country.

Representative of the Republic of Croatia in the EPP group of the European Parliament, Željana Zovko, (Photo: Željana Zovko-X Platform -EP)

Strasbourg (Fena) – The European Parliament held a debate on the consequences of the catastrophic floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the initiative of Croatian MEP Željana Zovko, who emphasized that the EU has a duty to mobilize all available resources to help that candidate country.

In the floods that hit the municipalities of Jablanica, Konjic, Kiseljak, Kreševo, and Fojnica on October 3, at least twenty people lost their lives, but many are still being searched for.

Croatian MEP in the EPP group, Željana Zovko, emphasized that it is the EU’s duty “as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s biggest partner” to mobilize all available resources to enable it to receive urgent relief.

– I call for the activation of the European Solidarity Fund, which has already been used not only for member states but also for candidate countries, and for providing long-term financial support, with the redirection of funds from the IPA III fund, to provide the much-needed help in dealing with the consequences of the floods and ensuring the basic necessities for all those affected by this disaster – she said in the plenary session.

– Bosnia and Herzegovina, as our partner country, must have access to these resources to enable a quick response, infrastructure recovery, and assistance to the most vulnerable – emphasized the Croatian MEP in the European Parliament.

The European Commission has already activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to provide immediate assistance to people on the ground, and 12 member states have provided assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina through this mechanism.

In Strasbourg, Zovko thanked the Government of the Republic of Croatia for promptly deciding on 10 million euros of aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

She urged politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina to show solidarity at all levels of government and urgently unblock the process of harmonizing decisions to send the reform agenda needed by the European Commission to activate the Growth Plan of one billion euros for Bosnia and Herzegovina. (9.10.2024.)