14 Amendments of François ALFONSI related to 2020/2087(INI)
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas, in the years 2017-2018, overall flooding disasters made up some two thirds of all EUSF applications but the reporting period was also marked by significant storms, forest fires and earthquakes;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M a (new)
Recital M a (new)
Ma. whereas, as laid down in Article 7 of the EUSF regulation, operations financed by the Fund should be compatible with the provisions of the Treaty and instruments adopted under it, with Union policies and measures, in particular in the fields of environmental protection, natural disaster risk prevention and management, climate change adaptation including, where appropriate, eco-system based approaches.
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Draws attention to events such as COVID-19, which is severely affecting all of Europe, forest fires across the continent, including in unusual places such as the Arctic, and the series of violent earthquakes in Europe, particularly in Italy in 2016-2017, causing hundreds of deaths and some EUR 22 billion in damage, and in Croatia in March and December 2020; points out, moreover, that storms, extreme rainfall and flooding have caused considerable damage in many cities and valleys, and that increasingly violent hurricanes have caused devastation in the outermost regions, such as Hurricane Irma in 2017 in Saint-Martin, and Hurricane Lorenzo in 2019 in the Azores, which were particularly destructive;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Points out that it is vital that aid and funds be sent every more rapidly to affected regions, and that linksynergies with the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) and the ERDF climate-change adaptation component are essential in order to create a comprehensive package;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Is of the opinion that climate change and the intensification of natural disasters are making territories and regions increasingly vulnerable; calls on the Commission, accordingly, to consider revising the EUSF in order better to take into account disasters on a regional scale; underlines, moreover, the role of ERDF Operational Programmes, in synergy with Rural Development Programmes, in the prevention and mitigation of hydrogeological risks;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Highlights that the severity of some natural disasters does not depend exclusively on climate change but are in some cases the result of man-made factors, including incautious spatial planning leading to construction of housing and infrastructure in flood plains of rivers or in landslides-prone territories; reiterates, in this regard, that EUSF reimbursements should favour a stronger resiliency and sustainability, with the financing of eco-system based solutions (e.g. reforestation, earthquake-proof reconstruction);
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to ensure the dissemination of good practices with regard to governance and institutional coordination structures in disaster situations and to ensure a qualitative analysis of the measures undertaken with regard to prevention in the framework of ESI Funds by the Member States which were also recipient of EUSF in the same affected areas;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Recalls the importance of the principles enshrined also in article 8 of the EUSF regulation, which states that the implementation report by each beneficiary Member State should fully detail the preventive measures, taken or proposed, to limit future damage and to avoid, to the extent possible, a recurrence of similar natural disasters, including the use of Union Structural and Investment Funds for this purpose;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Points to the difficulties faced by beneficiary countries when it comes to determining the precise amount of damage in a very short period of time and suggests that the Commission consider alternative simplified methods for determining how much the Fund should contribute, also in order to minimise the potential for errors and further delays;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Draws particular attention to the situation of local authorities which have little experience in EU-funded projects and calls on the Commission to provide them with capacity-building and increased operational support, in particular administrative support;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Notes that drought is a recurrent feature of the European climate that affects considerable fractions of the European population each year and that available studies, including reports from the European Environmental agency, project further increases in the frequency, duration and severity of meteorological and hydrological droughts for most of Europe during the 21st century; calls on the Commission to properly address the issue of droughts, that, in spite of their inclusion into the scope of EUSF regulation with the 2014 revision, are very difficult to assess in their economic impact and thus to compensate;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Points out that in its revised proposal of 27 May 2020 on the MFF 2021-2027 the Commission provided for a maximum annual budget of EUR 1 billion for the EUSF (in 2018 prices) and therefore notes with concernregret that under the agreement on the new MFF, the EUSF has been merged with the Emergency Aid Reserve (EAR) into a new ‘Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve’ (SEAR) package, with an overall annual budgetary allocation of EUR 1.2 billion;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Welcomes the fact that the revised EUSF adopted in April 2020 has increased the level of advance payments from 10% to 25% of the amount of the financial contribution anticipated and the maximum amount of the advances from EUR 30 million to EUR 100 million; points out, however, that for countries facing major disasters, the effectiveness of the Fund is directly linked to the level of advance payments and is of the view that it should be much higher, amounting to at least 3350%;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Notes that the average time needed to make advance payments is five months and calls on the Commission to consider some more reactive solutions, also exploring the option of setting up specific financial schemes aimed both at reducing the average time for advance payments and at the same time ensuring the protection of the EU budget ;