Brussels: Sweden, Finland and Belgium will receive a combined 48 million euros (52 million dollars) in emergency aid to help house and care for asylum seekers, the European Union announced Wednesday.
The lion's share of the support - 35 million euros - will go to Sweden, which has been one of the most popular destination countries for people seeking refuge in the EU. It has one of Europe's highest rates of asylum requests relative to population size, dpa reported.
Finland was granted 8 million euros in emergency aid, while Belgium received 5 million euros. The money comes from the EU's Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.
"In all three cases, the funding will be used to address the immediate needs of asylum seekers, mainly for accommodation and provision of food," the European Commission, the EU's executive, said in a statement.
The money comes on top of 118.5 million euros in EU funds that had already been allocated to Sweden for migration-related activities through 2020. Finland had been due to receive 23.48 million, while Belgium was in line for 89.25 million.
QNA
