Romania gets EUR 8.5 mln from the EU Solidarity Fund after severe flooding

Newsroom 09/04/2015 | 14:33

The European Commission granted aid worth EUR 66.5 million from the European Union Solidarity Fund to Romania, Bulgaria and Italy following three natural disasters in 2014.

According to a press release issued on Thursday, the aid — nearly EUR 8.5 million to Romania, EUR 1.98 million to Bulgaria and EUR 56 million to Italy — aims to partially cover the emergency costs of recovery operations following floods. It will particularly help restore vital infrastructure and services, reimburse the cost of emergency and rescue operations, and cover some of the clean-up costs in the disaster-stricken regions.

“The EU Solidarity Fund is one of our strongest symbols of solidarity in times of need. In many cases, the financial aid proposed in today’s decision will help some of Europe’s least developed regions to get back on their feet; it also demonstrates the EU’s solidarity with the 130,000 affected people who need to overcome the consequences of devastating floods, stated the commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu.

Many of the programmes co-financed by European Structural and Investment Funds for 2014-2020 aim to invest in preventing floods and mitigating the impact of climate change, for which there is a sustained need.

In May 2014, Romania was affected by widespread flooding which damaged transport, water, energy, and communication infrastructure, homes and farms. Neighboring country Serbia has already been awarded EU Solidarity aid after being afflicted by the same disaster. This flooding affected 30 of the 42 Romanian counties, triggering the evacuation of local residents and causing major losses in different economic sectors. Many farmers suffered crop loss on cultivated land and drowning of livestock, while forestry access roads were destroyed by breaking dams. Many schools, hospitals, public buildings and cultural assets were flooded.

Later the same year, during July and August, heavy precipitation, floods and landslides affected over 126,000 residents in five counties of the Romanian Southwestern Oltenia region. According to the aid application, over 2,300 homes, 20 schools, 9 kindergartens and 11 churches suffered damage consisting of dykes and dams broken, and roads, bridges, water treatment plants and sewerage systems damaged. Many farmers also suffered huge losses in production.

As for Bulgaria and Italy, the region of Severozapaden – one of the least developed regions in the EU – also suffered greatly from flooding in summer 2014, while in October and November 2014, five Italian regions (Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont and Tuscany) suffered recurrent severe weather with heavy rainfall leading to flooding, mudslides and landslides.

Staff

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