Syrian authorities have formally requested emergency assistance from the European Union on Wednesday in response to a series of earthquakes on Monday that have left thousands dead in the country and neighboring Turkey.
In this way, the government of President Bashar al-Assad has requested the activation of the European Civil Protection Mechanism with which the EU-27 coordinate the response to disasters, confirmed the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, at a press conference in Brussels, who has asked Member States to heed the request of Damascus.
«We have shared this request with the Member States and we ask them to contribute with the required assistance,» said the Slovenian commissioner, who detailed that the aid consists of assistance to improve rescue tasks and search for trapped people, as well as medical material and food.
The head of Crisis Management has emphasized that the assistance provided to Syria «is not diverted» and reaches people in need. «This is something we will be watching,» he warned.
Syria had so far avoided taking the formal step of requesting aid from the EU, which for the moment, had reinforced aid to humanitarian organizations operating in the north of the country, the area most affected by the earthquake and which is under the control of different opposition factions, in the context of the civil war in which Syria has been plunged since 2011.
Denies that the sanctions prevent humanitarian aid Faced with the accusations of Damascus that the arrival of humanitarian aid is blocked by international economic sanctions, also from the EU, which weigh against the regime, Lenarcic has refuted this accusation insisting that the measures affect mainly individuals close to Al Asad, companies close to the regime and economic sectors such as exports of equipment for civil repression, trade of petroleum products or the prohibition of financing the Syrian state.
«I categorically reject that European sanctions have an impact on humanitarian aid. The sanctions were imposed in 2011 for Syria’s violent repression against its own population, including the use of chemical weapons,» the commissioner pointed out, to summarize that the measures do not contemplate any measures that «harm the delivery of emergency aid or humanitarian assistance.»
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
