The European Union has no money left this year to meet increasing demands for aid in war-torn Syria or to reimburse European countries battling floods this week, dpa quoted the bloc's top budget official as warning Wednesday. The remarks by EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski appeared to contradict those of other EU officials who have pledged support for Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany as they tackle the floods. However, the commissioner responsible for crisis response, Kristalina Georgieva, said that "the EU stands ready to assist in case of need." But Lewandowski told a small group of journalists in Brussels that "the scale of the catastrophe is absolutely beyond the reimbursement (possible) in these countries." "We are without the resources, for sure for the European Solidarity Fund," he said. "In 2013, it is not possible." Lewandowski said an option would be for countries to be reimbursed for their emergency measures only next year, but warned that Europe's credibility is at stake. On Syria, he noted that "there are no capacities" in this year's budget to meet the increased humanitarian needs identified by the United Nations. "There is a big effort (from the EU), but certainly not to the amount the UN is expecting from the EU," he said. The budget bottleneck should be a lesson to the EU, Lewandowski said, amid fierce negotiations over how much the bloc should spend in 2014-20. Its governments have been keen to cut the EU budget after imposing tough austerity measures back home. "The commission must be allowed to move unspent money to react to unforeseen events," Lewandowski said. "How can we explain to flooding victims in Germany, in Austria and in the Czech Republic - as well as to the Syrian refugees - that the EU wants to help them, but that the help will only arrive later because of too rigid budgetary rules?" he asked.
