Because of increasing storms
Countries require homeowners to have insurance
8/19/2023 4:16 am
Extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall are occurring more and more frequently in Germany. In order to share the financial risk, the countries require compulsory insurance for homeowners. The state will not always be able to help, warns Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Weil.
After severe storms in Germany in the past few days, several prime ministers have reiterated their call for mandatory natural hazard insurance. “We all know that climate change has already progressed so far that extreme weather situations will become more and more common here in Germany,” Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”.
“Unfortunately, it is therefore absolutely sensible and necessary for all citizens to protect themselves against the consequences of heavy rain and flooding with natural hazard insurance,” said Weil, who is also chairman of the Prime Ministers’ Conference. The state will not always be able to help everywhere, he added. In order to spread the financial risk over as many shoulders as possible, the Federal Council had already spoken out in March for compulsory insurance in the area of natural hazards. The federal government must now act urgently, demanded Weil.
“Rhineland-Palatinate advocates compulsory nationwide insurance for natural hazards,” said the state’s prime minister, Malu Dreyer. In times of more and more extreme weather events, she helps to distribute the consequential costs in a spirit of solidarity and to prevent people from facing financial ruin after a flood disaster, for example.
Dreyer referred to a meeting in the coming month. “We welcome the fact that, at the invitation of the federal government, there will be another consultation at the level of the heads of state chancellery in September,” she said.
The insurance industry meanwhile insists on prevention and climate change adaptation. Jörg Asmussen, General Manager of the General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV), said that Germany must be better prepared for extreme weather events than has been the case up to now. “This includes, for example, climate-adapted planning, construction and renovation, a construction freeze in flood areas and a reduction in surface sealing,” Asmussen told the “Rheinische Post”. “According to our estimates, the premiums for residential building insurance could double in the next ten years if we do not implement prevention and climate change adaptation more consistently in Germany,” he warned.