The European Commission has adopted a €100 million package to support the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in Albania following the November 2019 earthquake. This funding is part of the total European Commission pledge of €115 million made at the International Donors’ Conference Together for Albania, earlier this year.

The EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, said: “With the adoption of this €100 million financial package, the European Union is living up to its commitment to help Albania in the reconstruction efforts following the earthquake, just as we are also supporting the country to address the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. We have delivered on our promise to stand by the citizens of Albania and renewed our support to Albania and its European future.”

The newly adopted programme will focus on the renovation and reconstruction of education facilities, to allow children to return to school with better conditions and facilities. It will build on the work already initiated under the existing €15 million reconstruction programme financed by the European Commission. The programme will also support the repair of damaged cultural heritage sites.

All construction will follow the “Build Back Better” principle, applying sustainable building norms and reduce future risk, rebuilding safer and more disaster-resilient infrastructure and systems. The special measure will also bring improvements to energy efficiency.