EP President Sassoli: EU is working on helping Western Balkans

FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP

The European Union is working on a series of measures to help the Western Balkans respond to the coronavirus crisis and has already decided to set aside €38 million for the purchase of medical equipment for countries in the region and approved their participation in the joint programme for procurement of such equipment, the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, said in his response to an appeal Western Balkan parliament speakers sent to the EU recently.

The response from David Sassoli arrived at the office of Bosnia’s House of Representatives Speaker, Denis Zvizdic, on Thursday.

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“In addition, the European Commission has decided to divert the already allocated 374 million Euro from the IPA funds for the economic recovery of Western Balkan countries,” Sassoli wrote, adding that this was one of the requests the Western Balkan officials included in their appeal.

Zvizdic’s office also said it was informed that the European Parliament Committee on International Trade will hold a session on April 21 where it will discuss the possibility of including the Western Balkans in its EU + export scheme, which is another request the regional officials expressed.