By Judith Ugwumadu | 29 October 2013

The European Commission is set to spend another €85m to help deal with the consequences of the crisis in Syria. It is part of a €400m package of aid to Syria and its neighbours announced by the commission in June.

Štefan Füle, commissioner for enlargement and European neighbourhood policy, said the move was another step towards ‘show[ing] that we not only promise help but actually deliver [aid]’.

This latest funding tranche will be split between expenditure in Syria and Jordan, where many Syrian refugees have fled.

The Syrian portion comprises €40m towards helping civil society groups, which are working to provide basic services such as health, education, psychosocial support and waste management. Some of the funding will also go towards helping Unesco preserve Syria’s rich cultural heritage, which is currently threatened by the conflict.

Jordan will receive another €40m to help it cope with the 500,000 refugees on its territory. In particular, this money will help cover the additional costs to Jordan's national education system, which is currently schooling 78,000 Syrian children. 

The remaining €5m will provide the Erasmus Mundus programme with the extra means needed to allow more Syrian students to continue their studies in European universities.

‘We continue to stand by the Syrian people,’ Füle said.

‘In our funding we focus on providing education to the children in the region but we also provide basic services to all those affected by the crisis; both inside Syria and in the neighbouring countries that are under enormous pressure as a result of the bloodshed and influx of refugees.’

According to the commission, the European Union and its member states are the biggest aid donors to Syria and its neighbours. In total, the EU has so far sent over €1.9 billion in relief and recovery aid.