April 15 (SeeNews) - The Council of the European Union said that under its amended budget for 2020 it will allocate 350 million euro ($381.8 million) to help Greece and Bulgaria deal with increased migratory pressures.
"The funds will be used to develop reception facilities, enhance the asylum systems and procedures, and improve the protection of the external borders of Greece and Bulgaria," the Council said in a statement on Tuesday.
The funds made available by the Council will also serve for combating the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the context of the migration issue as migrants and refugees represent a highly vulnerable group.
The Council's revised budget includes 3 billion euro in commitments and 1.53 billion euro in payments aimed at easing the effect of the coronavirus crisis, the statement read.
"The revised EU budget for 2020 unlocks crucial resources to address the unprecedented challenges facing the EU and its member states. Our top priority is to help national health systems tackle the COVID-19 outbreak. This money will be used to fund medical supplies, to construct field hospitals, and to transfer patients for treatment in other member states," Zdravko Maric, deputy prime minister and minister of finance at the EU Council said in the statement.
Overall, commitments under the amended 2020 budget have been increased by 3.57 billion euro and amount to 172.2 billion euro, while payments have been increased by 1.6 billion euro, reaching a total of 155.2 billion euro.
In February, Bulgaria's defence minister Krasimir Karakachanov said Bulgaria is ready to deploy up to 1,000 troops at the border with Turkey in order to prevent a potential migrant inflow a day after the neighbouring country said it will no longer stop Syrian irregular migrants from reaching Europe. Turkey's reaction was prompted by an airstrike by Syrian government forces that killed 33 Turkish soldiers in Syria’s northwestern Idlib region.
($ = 0.9168 euro)