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2019/2023(BUD) Mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund: assistance to Romania, Italy and Austria
Next event: Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading 2019/09/18

Progress: Preparatory phase in Parliament

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead BUDG MUREŞAN Siegfried (icon: EPP EPP)
Former Responsible Committee BUDG
Committee Opinion REGI
Former Committee Opinion REGI

Events

2019/09/18
   Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
2019/07/12
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2019/07/11
   EP - Responsible Committee
2019/05/22
   EC - Non-legislative basic document published
Details

PURPOSE: to mobilise the European Union Solidarity Fund to assist Romania, Italy and Austria.

PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council.

CONTENT: the proposed Decision covers the mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for an amount of EUR 293 551 794 to provide assistance to Romania, Italy and Austria further to disasters that took place in these countries in the course of 2018.

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 natural disasters. The Fund is not to exceed a maximum annual amount of EUR 500 million (2011 prices), as laid down in Article 10 of Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020 (MFF regulation).

Romania - flooding in the North East region in summer 2018

On 7 September 2018, Romania submitted an application to mobilise the Fund following repeated torrential rain that caused widespread flooding, causing extensive damage to infrastructure and households as well as agricultural losses.

After an initial claim for a total estimated direct damage of EUR 196.8 million, the Romanian authorities submitted a revised application on 9 October 2018, in which the total direct damage amounted to EUR 327.7 million. This amount represents 2.07% of regional GDP and therefore exceeds the required threshold of 1.5% of regional GDP (EUR 238 million in the case of the North-East region).

The Romanian authorities have estimated the cost of eligible emergency and recovery operations at EUR 294 million and have broken it down by type of action. The affected region is part of the ‘less developed regions' under the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) for 2014-2020.

Italy - extreme weather events in autumn 2018

On 20 December 2018, Italy submitted an application to the Fund following floods and landslides resulting from the torrential rain from the northern alpine areas to Sicily, causing a large number of victims (34 reported dead and 1 person was reported missing) and widespread material damage.

The application was presented on the basis of the criteria for a ‘major natural disaster'. The Italian authorities estimate the total direct damage caused by the disaster at EUR 6.6 billion (updated amount). This amount represents more than 192% of the threshold applicable to Italy of EUR 3.4 billion.

Italy has estimated the cost of eligible emergency and recovery operations at more than EUR 1 700 million and has broken it down by type of action. Three of the affected regions are considered as ‘less developed regions’ under the ESI Funds 2014-2020 (Calabria, Campania and Sicily), two as ‘regions in transition’ (Abruzzo and Sardinia), while the other nine regions are ‘more developed regions’.

Austria - extreme weather events in autumn 2018

On 14 January 2019, Austria submitted an application to mobilise the Fund following extreme weather events. Weather events in Italy also affected a number of alpine/southern regions of Austria, in particular Carinthia and East Tyrol.

The Austrian authorities estimate the total direct damage caused by the disaster at EUR 326.2 million. The request was made under the so-called ‘neighbouring country provision’ whereby an eligible country affected by the same disaster qualifying as a major disaster in a neighbouring eligible country may also benefit from Solidarity Fund aid.

Austria estimated the cost of emergency and recovery operations at EUR 214.5 million and presented it broken down by type of operation. The affected regions are "more developed regions" under the ESI Funds (2014-2020).

Conclusion

The Commission considers that the applications of Romania, Italy and Austria fulfil the conditions for a financial contribution from the Fund as set out in Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002. It therefore proposes to mobilise the EUSF within the framework of the general budget of the Union for the 2019 financial year, in order to grant:

- an amount of EUR 8 192 300 to Romania;

- an amount of EUR 277 204 595 to Italy;

- an amount of EUR 8 154 899 to Austria.

This mobilisation is accompanied by Draft amending budget (DAB) No 3/2019 , which proposes to enter the necessary appropriations in the general budget 2019, both in commitments and payments.

Documents

  • Committee draft report: PE639.746
  • Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2019)0206
  • Non-legislative basic document published: EUR-Lex
  • Committee draft report: PE639.746

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

events/1
date
2019-07-15T00:00:00
type
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
  • BUDG/9/00475
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Preparatory phase in Parliament
New
Awaiting committee decision
docs
  • date: 2019-07-12T00:00:00 docs: title: PE639.746 type: Committee draft report body: EP
committees/0
type
Responsible Committee
body
EP
committee_full
Budgets
committee
BUDG
associated
False
date
2019-07-11T00:00:00
rapporteur
name: MUREŞAN Siegfried group: Group of European People's Party abbr: EPP
committees/0
type
Responsible Committee
body
EP
committee_full
Budgets
committee
BUDG
associated
False
date
forecasts
  • date: 2019-09-18T00:00:00 title: Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
commission
  • body: EC dg: Budget commissioner: OETTINGER Günther
committees
  • type: Responsible Committee body: EP committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG associated: False date:
  • type: Former Responsible Committee body: EP committee_full: Budgets committee: BUDG associated: False date:
  • type: Committee Opinion body: EP committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI associated: False date:
  • type: Former Committee Opinion body: EP committee_full: Regional Development committee: REGI associated: False date:
events
  • date: 2019-05-22T00:00:00 type: Non-legislative basic document published body: EC docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2019/0206/COM_COM(2019)0206_EN.pdf title: COM(2019)0206 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2019&nu_doc=0206 title: EUR-Lex summary: PURPOSE: to mobilise the European Union Solidarity Fund to assist Romania, Italy and Austria. PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council. CONTENT: the proposed Decision covers the mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for an amount of EUR 293 551 794 to provide assistance to Romania, Italy and Austria further to disasters that took place in these countries in the course of 2018. 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 natural disasters. The Fund is not to exceed a maximum annual amount of EUR 500 million (2011 prices), as laid down in Article 10 of Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020 (MFF regulation). Romania - flooding in the North East region in summer 2018 On 7 September 2018, Romania submitted an application to mobilise the Fund following repeated torrential rain that caused widespread flooding, causing extensive damage to infrastructure and households as well as agricultural losses. After an initial claim for a total estimated direct damage of EUR 196.8 million, the Romanian authorities submitted a revised application on 9 October 2018, in which the total direct damage amounted to EUR 327.7 million. This amount represents 2.07% of regional GDP and therefore exceeds the required threshold of 1.5% of regional GDP (EUR 238 million in the case of the North-East region). The Romanian authorities have estimated the cost of eligible emergency and recovery operations at EUR 294 million and have broken it down by type of action. The affected region is part of the ‘less developed regions' under the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) for 2014-2020. Italy - extreme weather events in autumn 2018 On 20 December 2018, Italy submitted an application to the Fund following floods and landslides resulting from the torrential rain from the northern alpine areas to Sicily, causing a large number of victims (34 reported dead and 1 person was reported missing) and widespread material damage. The application was presented on the basis of the criteria for a ‘major natural disaster'. The Italian authorities estimate the total direct damage caused by the disaster at EUR 6.6 billion (updated amount). This amount represents more than 192% of the threshold applicable to Italy of EUR 3.4 billion. Italy has estimated the cost of eligible emergency and recovery operations at more than EUR 1 700 million and has broken it down by type of action. Three of the affected regions are considered as ‘less developed regions’ under the ESI Funds 2014-2020 (Calabria, Campania and Sicily), two as ‘regions in transition’ (Abruzzo and Sardinia), while the other nine regions are ‘more developed regions’. Austria - extreme weather events in autumn 2018 On 14 January 2019, Austria submitted an application to mobilise the Fund following extreme weather events. Weather events in Italy also affected a number of alpine/southern regions of Austria, in particular Carinthia and East Tyrol. The Austrian authorities estimate the total direct damage caused by the disaster at EUR 326.2 million. The request was made under the so-called ‘neighbouring country provision’ whereby an eligible country affected by the same disaster qualifying as a major disaster in a neighbouring eligible country may also benefit from Solidarity Fund aid. Austria estimated the cost of emergency and recovery operations at EUR 214.5 million and presented it broken down by type of operation. The affected regions are "more developed regions" under the ESI Funds (2014-2020). Conclusion The Commission considers that the applications of Romania, Italy and Austria fulfil the conditions for a financial contribution from the Fund as set out in Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002. It therefore proposes to mobilise the EUSF within the framework of the general budget of the Union for the 2019 financial year, in order to grant: - an amount of EUR 8 192 300 to Romania; - an amount of EUR 277 204 595 to Italy; - an amount of EUR 8 154 899 to Austria. This mobilisation is accompanied by Draft amending budget (DAB) No 3/2019 , which proposes to enter the necessary appropriations in the general budget 2019, both in commitments and payments.
procedure
reference
2019/2023(BUD)
title
Mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund: assistance to Romania, Italy and Austria
subject
geographical_area
type
BUD - Budgetary procedure
subtype
Mobilisation of funds
stage_reached
Preparatory phase in Parliament