Today, the European Commission announced that it is offering over 1 billion euros in financial support from EU Solidarity Fund (FESS) to help Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Greece and France cope with the consequences of the severe floods that affected these countries in 2023.
We remind you that at the beginning of September 2023, the heavy rains and two dams that overflowed caused serious damage in several settlements in Tsarevo municipality. Four people died, bridges fell, landslides were activated, and there were evacuations. It seems that either we did not apply for aid from the solidarity fund, or we did not meet some criteria, since there is no aid planned for Bulgaria.
The package of help is allocated as follows: €378.8 million for Italy following the flood damage in the Emilia-Romagna region in May 2023 and an additional €67.8 million for the Tuscany region following the floods in October and November 2023; EUR 428.4 million for Slovenia and EUR 5.2 million for Austria to deal with the consequences of the floods in August 2023; €101.5 million for Greece to support recovery efforts following the floods in September 2023; and €46.7 million to France for flood damage caused to the Hauts-de-France region in November 2023.
Aid from the European Solidarity Fund will cover part of the costs of emergency and recovery operations, including repairing damaged infrastructure, protecting cultural heritage and conducting clean-up operations.
This funding proposal follows requests for assistance from the fund by affected countries. Once the Commission’s proposal has been approved by the Parliament and the Council, the financial assistance can be paid immediately and in one tranche to each of the requesting countries.
Since its inception in 2002, the Fund has mobilized over €8.6 billion for 130 disasters (110 natural disasters and 20 health emergencies) in 24 Member States (plus the UK) and four acceding countries (Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey).
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