EU ready to co-finance Poland’s evacuation from Middle East, Tusk says
The European Union is prepared to co-finance Poland’s evacuation operation from the Middle East, provided seats are also made available to other EU citizens, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.
On February 28, the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran, that killed the country's supreme leader and several other top officials. Iran retaliated with strikes against targets across the Middle East, prompting airlines to cancel flights to and from the region and leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
Speaking at a meeting of a task force on the situation in the Middle East on Friday, Tusk said that "the European Union is ready to co-finance our evacuation effort within the European framework, as long as other EU nationals are accommodated on our flights."
"Naturally, Polish citizens are our priority, but I urge you to utilise this mechanism flexibly..." he added. "Our citizens will also be able to benefit from it on aircraft provided by other nations."
Tusk said that since March 1, over 2,800 people had been evacuated from areas affected by the crisis, either on civilian flights or with assistance from Polish consular offices.
However, he said, "many people are still waiting not only for help but also, very often, for information."
Jan Grabiec, the head of Tusk's office, announced government aircraft were available for the evacuation operation and that all VIP flights had been suspended.
Poland is among 18 EU countries which have activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism in order to jointly evacuate their citizens from the Middle East, an EU source reported later in the day.
European Commission spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova said on Friday that over 1,000 people stranded in the Middle East had been brought back to Europe by 10 planes as part of the EU mechanism, and that more flights were being coordinated.
Hrncirova added that EU citizens, who wanted to return to Europe, did not have to wait for a flight organised by their own country but could fly back home aboard a plane sent by another member state as part of the mechanism.
The European Commission can pay part of the financial costs of the repatriation flights. Up to 75 percent of the eligible costs for the flights can be reimbursed by the EU if at least 30 percent of available seats are offered to citizens from other EU countries.
Apart from Poland, the EU mechanism has also been activated by Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Portugal and Malta.(PAP)
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