Brussels, 01/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) is likely to give its assent on 6 April to the award of €182.4 million in aid from the EU Solidarity Fund to six countries hit by severe flooding last year. On Thursday 31 March, the EP budgets committee approved amending budget No 1 for 2011 as agreed by the Council in mid-March (see EUROPE 10337) which will mean that this money can be made available by means of a budgetary ploy: the “negative reserve”, which will have to be made good, by means of transfers, before the end of the financial year. The EP would have preferred the Solidarity Fund aid to have been funded by new money.
The aid for the six countries affected by landslides and serious floods a year ago will be shared as follows: Poland - €105.5 million; Slovakia - €20.4 million; Hungary - €22.5 million; the Czech Republic - €5.11 million; Romania - €25 million; Croatia - €3.83 million.
“The negative reserve is not an acceptable option”, said Salvador Garriga (EPP, Spain), standing in for rapporteur Sidonia Jedrzejewska (EPP, Poland), said on Thursday 31 March. He nevertheless invited his colleagues on the budgets committee to accept the Council option so as not to further delay release of the funding sought a year ago.
Alain Lamassoure (EPP, France), who chairs the committee, said he thought that the Council, in creating this negative reserve, had not abided by the declaration appended to the agreement on the 2011 budget which stated that if there was a shortfall in payment appropriations as a result of unforeseen costs or emergencies, funds could be added. Now that the negative reserve facility has been used up in one fell swoop, what is to be done if there is any further unforeseen expenditure, Lamassoure wondered. This is all the more relevant as a second budget proposal has been made (amending budget No 2 for 2011): €19.6 million from the Solidarity Fund after the torrential rain in Slovenia, Croatia and the Czech Republic. (L.C./transl.rt)