Most of flood donations money "still pending"

Most of flood donations money "still pending"

Those citizens who were left homeless during the May disaster were told they would have roofs over their heads by the winter, and out of 218 houses slated for construction "ten have already been ompleted," while 150 are "in an advanced stage of construction," says Blagojević.

"There is more money we are waiting for than we have received. Now EUR 30 million is being realized out of the total of 152 million that will arrive. Another reason are their procedures and we do not have much choice. We've done everything in time, but their procedures are such. Imagine when procedures of 28 countries and in addition, procedures of the European Union cross paths. In comparison to the usual pace in the EU, which is sometimes several years, this is extra fast, after all," says Blagojević.

He admitted that "for many, it's still not fast enough," but added that this money is needed and that Serbia is "endlessly grateful" to the EU.

He is also certain that "in the end everyone will be satisfied," pointing out that all those affected by the floods will have new, brick houses and will also be given "a set of appliances."

"I have reason to believe that the housing issue will be resolved relatively quickly - compared to how long they have waited so far and all the things they had to go through so that we could all arrive to the point when we expect to be able to say that this issue will be resolved for everyone," said Blagojević.

He explained that 80 families "received financial assistance to build their houses because for various reasons it was not possible to build new homes on the land they own."