EU approves nearly 9 billion EUR for Macedonia and EU candidate-countries

Countries lining up for European Union membership Macedonia, Turkey, Croatia and - will be able to borrow from 8.7 billion euros package from the European Investment Bank.
Mediterranean countries, including Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon and Israel, will also be able to dip into 8.7 billion euros.
The European Union on Tuesday cleared the European Investment Bank to loan 27.8 billion euros over the next seven years, up from current levels but lower than originally planned.
The EIB lends money for large infrastructure projects, most of them inside Europe, but also loans out some 10 percent to other nations.
EU finance ministers agreed to increase lending from the EIB's current lending budget of 20.7 billion euros, but did not back a European Commission suggestion that it give the EIB 50 percent extra, or 31.5 billion euros.