Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the European Commission provides support to the victims of recent flooding in the Balkans; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington

The UK has worked closely with the EU European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), and offered advice and assistance during all phases of the flood response effort.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), between 18 and 23 May a thirty-three person water rescue team from the British Fire Service was deployed to work alongside EU Force (EUFOR) Operation Althea and local rescue efforts. They rescued nearly 200 people, delivered large amounts of humanitarian aid, and helped restore power in villages North of Bijeljina.

In Serbia, the UK provided 64 radios for the Serbian Ministry of the Interior, to assist with the coordination of their response teams; and donated £280,000 worth of heavy lift and transport vehicles to the Serbian Red Cross to aid their relief distribution effort.

A team from the UK flew out to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the week commencing 20 May to assess likely humanitarian and recovery needs. Subsequently the UK provided £250,000 to support a World Vision flood response project in the region focussing on sanitation and health and providing support for 140,000 people made homeless by the floods. ECHO have released €3.2m in humanitarian aid to support the most vulnerable population in BiH and in Serbia and the Commission has reallocated a further €62m to support short to medium term recovery and reconstruction needs in the affected areas. To both the UK will have contributed 15 per cent and we will continue to work with the European Commission to try to identify any further assistance which could be made available from existing budgets.

In BiH, EUFOR Operation Althea, to which the UK contributes troops in-theatre and in reserve, assisted the BiH Armed Forces in their response to the flooding. The First Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, who provide part of EUFOR’s intermediate reserve, and are in BiH for a routine operational rehearsal, are assisting the BiH Armed Forces in this regard.

The government will continue to work closely with the EU, the UN and other international organisations to assess what further help might be given to help both Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina recover from the impact of the floods.