Albania and Macedonia have asked the EU for huge sums of money to help them deal with the refugee crisis caused by the conflict in Kosovo

Date: 29/04/1999

During a meeting with EU foreign ministers earlier this week, Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo said Tirana would need nearly €800 million in economic assistance by the end of the year. His Macedonian counterpart Aleksandar Dimitrov said the current crisis had already cost his country more than €200m. Both men said the €250m in aid agreed by the EU so far was just a “drop in the ocean”.