VP/HR - Financial assistance for countries neighbouring Venezuela

Subject: VP/HR - Financial assistance for countries neighbouring Venezuela

Venezuela is deeply mired in a political, social, economic and humanitarian crisis with no apparent end in sight. The International Monetary Fund is currently predicting a 13 000% inflation rate for 2018, translating into an average price increase of almost 1.5 % per hour. 87 % of the population is now affected by poverty and 61.2 % by extreme poverty.

One of the most visible effects of this crisis is the growing wave of migrants, with over 2 million Venezuelans having fled the country between 2014 and 2018, placing enormous pressure on neighbouring countries, notably Colombia and Brazil, which are having to cope with a large influx of people, many of whom are in very poor health and severely undernourished.

The Commission has announced a new aid package of EUR 35.1 million, in addition to the EUR 37 million already earmarked for EU humanitarian and cooperation projects. However, a number of local authorities are intimating that this will be insufficient to deal with the growing scale of the crisis.

In view of this, would the Commission, if necessary, be able to provide a new financial aid package for countries neighbouring Venezuela?

Answer given by Vice-President Mogherini on behalf of the European Commission (30 October 2018)

The increasingly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Venezuela, with growing numbers of Venezuelans fleeing to neighbouring countries and beyond, is creating challenges to host countries and to regional stability. As a result, the EU has stepped up its assistance to address humanitarian needs both inside Venezuela and to Venezuelan migrants and their host communities in neighbouring countries. This should help alleviate their most pressing needs and promote host communities socioeconomic resilience as well as the respect of migrant rights.

The European Commission indeed mobilised its humanitarian and cooperation instruments for an amount of EUR 35.1 million as communicated last June. This amount includes humanitarian relief (EUR 5 million) and longer-term resilience-building actions (EUR 18.1 million) addressing food security, water, sanitation and hygiene within the country, as well as the socioeconomic inclusion of migrants in neighbouring countries, along with actions to reduce local tensions and violence towards displaced Venezuelans in border regions of Colombia and Brazil (EUR 5 million). An additional EUR 7 million which includes support hosting communities is also being made available. This assistance complements the emergency relief that the EU has been providing since 2016 (EUR 8.9 million in total since 2016) in response to the Venezuelan crisis.

The European Commission as well as Member States are also exploring the possibilities to further increase its support beyond this already significant effort, also in support of regional responses to the crisis.