The federal government is requesting 185 million euros from the European Union for the reconstruction of Wallonia after the floods. The European Commission will make a decision in the coming weeks.
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185 million euros. This is how much the federal government asks from the Solidarity Fund that the European Union makes available. With this, Minister of the Interior Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) wants to pay for part of the reconstruction of Wallonia after the floods.
These include infrastructure works for energy, water, wastewater, telecommunications, transport, health care and education. Temporary housing is also included.
In the coming weeks, the European Commission will decide how much of the requested amount to allocate to Belgium. The resources obtained are then distributed among the various levels of government on the basis of the damage suffered.
In addition to this request, the federal council of ministers decided today to extend the activities of the federal support cell until mid-November. This initiative was intended to improve coordination on the ground from the beginning of August, after the federal phase came to an end and the Walloon authorities took over management. The cell was a response to the criticism that there was insufficient line in the organization of emergency aid in the affected region.
3.9 million euros for provinces
The provinces also incurred costs to help the affected citizens. For example, they had urgent work carried out by private companies for 3.9 million euros, such as clearing roads, waste collection, shoring up houses and expert research. The federal government decided today to take on that bill, as well as the 850,000 euros for the delivery of meals to residents of the affected region.
The application for 185 million euros and the provincial costs are in addition to the federal loan of 1.2 billion euros to the Walloon government, which the federal government announced earlier this week. agreement reached.
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