A new European aid operation is being launched today to deal with the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Luxembourg was the first EU member state to commit an aircraft for medical evacuation operations; furthermore, a Dutch ship left today from the port De Helder in The Netherlands, carrying ambulances, laboratories, mobile hospitals and other facilities. It is the largest transport operation organised by Europe and coordinated by the European Commission. In addition, the Commission and the European pharmaceutical industry are boosting European research on the Ebola virus with € 280 million. This funding from Horizon 2020 and industry will allow Europe to step up vaccine and medication development on Ebola. With this announcement, a total of more than € 1 billion has been pledged by Member States and the European Commission for the Ebola crisis. The European Coordinator in the fight against Ebola, Christos Stylianides and the European Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis will visit Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea from November 12 to 16 to assess the situation and demonstrate European solidarity with the victims and aid workers on the ground.All these concerted actions are obviously positively welcomed by President Juncker.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:39:22 +0000
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