London, September 18 (HNA) – The European Union Council agreed on Monday to provide a total of €454.8 million in disaster relief aid to Romania and Italy to repair the damage inflicted by natural disasters in 2022 and to Turkey in relation to the earthquakes in February 2023. The assistance will come from the EU’s 2023 budget.
In practice, the EU will transfer money from the solidarity and emergency aid reserve in its 2023 budget to the so-called EU Solidarity Fund operational budget line, from where it can be paid to the countries that have applied for financial assistance from this fund after being struck by natural disasters.
The EU Solidarity Fund is designed to provide financial assistance in the event of a major disaster in a member state or a country holding accession negotiations with the EU.
The aid will be distributed as follows:
€33.9 million to provide assistance to Romania further to severe and broad drought with three main peaks, respectively, at the end of March, in mid-April and in July-August 2022
€20.9 million to provide assistance to Italy further to the intense rainfall resulting in fluvial and flash flood events affecting the central Italian regions in September 2022
€400 million to provide assistance to Turkey further to the major earthquakes affecting southern Turkey in the region of Kahramanmaraş and the region of Hatay in February 2023
With regard to the proposal from the European Commission, the decision came as follows:
(1) The European Union Solidarity Fund (“the Fund”) aims to enable the Union to respond in a rapid, efficient and flexible manner to emergency situations in order to show solidarity with the population of regions struck by major or regional natural disasters or major public health emergencies.
(2) The Fund is not to exceed the ceilings as laid down in Article 9 of Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2020/20931.
(3) On 6 September 2022, Romania submitted an application to mobilise the Fund following the drought in the summer of 2022.
(4) On 8 December 2022, Italy submitted an application to mobilise the Fund following the flood in the Marche Region in September 2022.
(5) On 20 April 2023, Turkey submitted an application to mobilise the Fund following the earthquakes in February 2023.
(6) The above-mentioned applications meet the conditions for providing a financial contribution from the Fund, as laid down in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002.
(7) The Fund should, therefore, be mobilised in order to provide a financial contribution to Romania, Italy and Turkey.
(8) In order to minimise the time taken to mobilise the Fund, this Decision should apply from the date of its adoption.