The European Commission has allocated almost €12 million to Serbia in additional financial support to help in the fight against Covid-19. These funds will be used for emergency support to the population, measures for prevention, monitoring and control of the spread of the disease, and for medical and personal protective equipment. The funds will also serve to reimburse expenses incurred previously by Serbia in the fight against the pandemic.

The donation comes from the European Solidarity Fund (EUSF). It is part of a larger package of €530 million to cover 17 EU member states and three EU candidate countries. The financial contribution proposed by the Commission has now to be approved by the European Parliament and the Council. The financial aid will then be disbursed to the applicant countries.

The EU Solidarity Fund is available to EU member states, but also to EU candidate countries, such as Serbia. It can be activated in cases of major natural disasters or public health emergencies that cause great direct damage or require the containment of significant public financial expenditures. Serbia has benefited from the EU Solidarity Fund in the past, after the 2014 floods.

The EU is by far the largest investor, the largest trading partner and the largest donor to Serbia. With more than €3 billion in non-refundable aid to Serbia in the past two decades, the EU supports Serbia to become a more prosperous, sustainable, fairer, safer, democratic society, and thus ready to join the Union.