Croatia is not alone, European solidarity is alive, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said on Wednesday after a meeting with the Croatian prime minister in Zagreb, from where he departed to the areas affected by the devastating earthquake on Tuesday.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced Lenarčič's visit to Petrinja and Sisak on the day of the earthquake, and together with President of the European Council Charles Michel she said that the EU was ready to help.
I arrived here to express European solidarity, the solidarity of the European Union with Croatia, its member, Lenarčič told a press conference at the Banski Dvori (Government House) and expressed his condolences to the Croatian people.
The arrival of EU commissioners is a great signal of support of the European Union, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said about the earthquake that had claimed seven lives, injured 28 people and caused extensive material damage.
Only a few hours after the earthquake the EU Civil Protection Mechanism was activated, Lenarčič said.
The response from member states has been huge, he added.
Thirteen EU countries have offered help -- Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Italy, Sweden, Lithuania, Greece, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, France, as well as one country outside the bloc, Turkey.
The relief mostly consisted of accommodation equipment such as winter tents, housing containers, beds, and Croatia will receive financial aid from the European Solidarity Fund, he said.
Croatia has already used money from that fund for floods, and this year, when it was hit by the earthquake in March, it received nearly €700 million, he recalled.
It is good to see how important EU membership is such crisis situations, Plenković said.
EC Vice-President Dubravka Šuica said that she had arrived as a European official but that Croatia was in her heart.
She also underscored the importance of Croatia's EU membership.
Šuica said that she was working on a long-term vision for rural areas as Commissioner for Democracy and Demography and Sisak County required special attention since the area had been demographically devastated after the war.
After the press conference, European commissioners went to areas affected by the earthquake accompanied by Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Nataša Tramišak, who is in charge of submitting a new request for assistance.
Text: Hina