Christos Stylianides

The EU is to release further emergency humanitarian aid of €13 million, aimed at supporting refugees along the Western Balkans route.

The European Commission is set to increase in 2016 its humanitarian funding for education in emergencies to 4% of the EU’s overall humanitarian budget. The commitment was championed earlier this year by EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides, and has now found strong support from the European Parliament and EU Member States.

Ahead of the Western Balkans Summit in Vienna, the European Commission on Wednesday said it was releasing an additional 1.5 million euro in humanitarian funding to assist refugees and migrants in Serbia and Macedonia.

In an immediate response to a request for assistance from Greece, the EU provided firefighting planes to help stop the spread of forest fires in several parts of the country, including in the outskirts of Athens.

On the occasion of the World Day Against Child Labor on Friday, June 12, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission, Neven Mimica, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Christos Stylianides, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Marianne Thyssen, Commissioner for Emplo

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev is due to attend the Annual Forum of Local Authorities of Southeast Europe as the event is entering into its third day.

The forum, which is organized by the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS) and the City of Plovdiv, kicked off Saturday.

BELGRADE - Serbia has become 33th state to accede to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism on Thursday, thus becoming entitled to the assistance in the case of emergency situations that EU member states have access to.

BELGRADE - EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides welcomed Serbia's commitment to becoming a fully-fledged EU member and its major contribution to political and economic stability in the Western Balkans in a meeting with Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

The European Union and other donors pledged more than $2 billion on Tuesday to help alleviate war-torn Syria's humanitarian crisis, which Kuwait's emir called the worst in "modern history".
      

A joint statement by EC VP Frans Timmermans, EU High-Representative VP Federica Mogherini, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU International Cooperation/Development Commissioner Neven Mimica, EU Employment/Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen, EU Humanitarian Aid/Crisis Management Commissioner Christos Stylianides and EU Justice/Consumers/Gender Equality Commissioner Ver