The Budget Committee of the European Parliament has approved the allocation of an additional EUR 18 M in aid to Member States to deal with the refugee wave from Syria.

The news was reported Wednesday by the Bulgarian agency BGNES.

"The new amount must be approved by the Member States, but if everything goes smoothly, the European Commission will be able to distribute the money within 2-3 weeks, according to the needs of States requesting assistance," said Bulgarian MEP Ivaylo Kalfin, a member of the Budget Committee of the European Parliament, cited by his press office.

These funds are transferred from other programs which will not use them by the end of 2013.

They will be added to the EUR 14.4 M that was recently transferred from the EU budget for 2013 for the same purpose.

The vote on the long-term budget has been postponed until the next meeting of the Budget Committee, scheduled for November 14.

If the regulation of long-term budget is approved then, it will be possible for the European Parliament to vote on it, as planned, at the final plenary session in Strasbourg in two weeks and the budget will be operational by January 1, 2014.

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