444 million euros reserved for OCTs

The European Commission wants to make an amount of 444 million euros available for the Overseas Coun­tries and Territories (OCTs), it was agreed during the Euro sum­mit which concluded in Brussels early Tuesday morning.

The summit of the past four days, which was attended by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on behalf of the Kingdom, was focused on the financial aid to the southern European coun­tries, but assistance to non-Euro­pean Union countries was also on the agenda.

The OCTs in the Caribbean, the Pacific Ocean and the southern part of Africa originally received funding from the European De­velopment Fund (EDF). In the package that was agreed upon during the summit, the OCTs were added to the list of candidate member states.

The support for the OCTs covers the period 2021-­2027. The European Com­mission has not announced all details as yet, but in gen­eral the conditions of the EDF will be applied. The European Parliament still has to approve the plans.

The OCTs consist of the six Dutch Caribbean is­lands, Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eu­statius and Saba, as well as the French islands in the Caribbean and Pacific, and the French southern and Antarctic territories, and Greenland, which is part of Denmark.

The Daily Herald.