European Parliament approves €60.2 million flood relief for Serbia

Seven applications for a total of EUR126.7 million in EU aid to help Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria cope with the aftermath of natural disasters in 2013 and 2014 have been approved by Parliament. Almost a half of the aid from the EU Solidarity Fund, EUR 60.2 million, will be provided to Serbia, the only non-EU applicant, as the Parliament endorsed European Commission’s proposal. Serbia was treated as any EU member.

In November 2013, Italy, in particular Sardinia, were affected by extreme rainfall, leading to severe floods, while the Greek island of Cephalonia suffered a major earthquake, of a magnitude of 5.8 on the Richter scale, followed by a dozen aftershocks, in January and February 2014. The earthquake left some 3,000 people homeless.

In the same period, Slovenia suffered some of the worst winter blizzards for decades. Almost half the country’s forests were damaged by ice, which in turn brought down electricity lines, leaving homes without power.

As the weather system moved on, it hit neighboring Croatia, in particular, in the northwest and parts of the Adriatic Coast. Melting ice led to floods that caused additional damage.

In May 2014, another bout of severe weather hit eastern Croatia, causing floods. The same rains caused the worst floods in living memory in neighboring Serbia where public and private infrastructure was massively destroyed.

Heavy rain hit Bulgaria in June 2014, flooding the country with precipitation up to four times the monthly climatic norm.

The applications were approved in two rounds: EUR 46.9 million to Italy, Greece, Slovenia and Croatia was approved by 651 votes to 26, with 7 abstentions while EUR 79.7 million to Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria was approved by 665 votes to 30, with 8 abstentions.

The EU Solidarity Fund was set up in 2002 to help EU member states and countries preparing to join the EU that are hit by natural disasters. With an annual budget of EUR500 million, the fund has been tapped 63 times in 24 countries for a total amount of EUR3.7 billion, according to Commission data. The applications have to be approved both by Parliament and the Council.