Serbia To Get EU Money For Floods, Announces Donors Conference

BRUSSELS, May 21, 2014 -- Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has announced during a visit to Brussels that a donors conference to raise funds to combat flooding and help with the reconstruction of the country will take place in Belgrade on May 22.

The European Union commissioner responsible for regional policy, Johannes Hahn, said it is likely that the damages from the recent floods seen in Serbia will qualify it for the European Solidarity fund.

EU member states and EU candidate countries can tap into the 500-million-euro fund when natural disasters strike.

The final amount of financial aid will be decided later this summer.

Bosnia-Herzegovina, which isn't an EU candidate country, doesn't qualify for the fund, but Hahn noted that the EU is looking into a reallocation of EU funds to aid Sarajevo.

Some 400 relief workers from 19 EU member states are currently in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to help with the flooding.