Sunday 25th July 2021
Reconstruction aid in flood areas
EU offers Germany humanitarian aid
It sounds unusual in a rich country like Germany, but the EU Commission is offering humanitarian aid after the flood disaster. Support is possible with clean-up work, with reconstruction but also with preventive measures. The damage to the infrastructure alone is immense.
The EU Commission has offered to support Germany financially in coping with the consequences of the flood disaster. “With a view to the reconstruction phase after the disaster, the EU has a number of instruments available to support the member states,” said the EU Commissioner responsible for humanitarian aid and crisis protection, Janez Lenarcic, of “Welt am Sonntag”. Specifically, he named the “EU Solidarity Fund”.
“At the request of a member state and after evaluation by the EU Commission, the EU Solidarity Fund can cover part of the costs that the authorities incur in the event of emergency operations and reconstruction,” Lenarcic told the newspaper. According to the EU Commissioner, this includes, for example, the reconstruction of important infrastructure, costs for clean-up work, but also the protection of important cultural assets. “This is of course also open to examination for Germany,” said the politician from Slovenia.
Lenarcic also emphasized that the EU Commission offers a great deal of information and programs to support the member states in improving disaster control. This includes, for example, the “Overview of possible natural and man-made disasters in the EU”.
Germany has not yet requested any help from the EU
The new “civil protection mechanism” and the “flood directive” are also important for prevention, Lenarcic told the newspaper. “The Flood Directive obliges member states to identify areas with a potential flood risk, prepare for flood risk and create risk maps for certain flood scenarios and other extreme situations.”
In the context of the “civil protection mechanism” during the current flood disaster – unlike Belgium – Germany has not yet requested any help from the EU, the EU Commissioner told the newspaper. In Belgium, on the other hand, there were “more than 150 rescue workers from France, Italy and Austria active”. A total of seven EU countries have offered help to Belgium, including Germany, according to Lenarcic.
According to a report, the Federal Ministry of Transport estimates the cost of repairing highways, roads and bridges damaged or destroyed by floods to be around 700 million euros. According to “Bild am Sonntag”, this emerges from a corresponding assessment of the situation. Although the first stretches have already been repaired, in some cases the renovation could take months or even years. Many routes could therefore be closed for a long time.
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