Brussels, 12/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - The new outlines of the EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF), which is used to help regions hit by natural disasters, were approved by the European ambassadors on Tuesday 12 March. These regions will be able to benefit more quickly from funds to compensate the costs of damage, and requests by member states for intervention will be simplified. This fund, which was set up in 2002, has already come to the aid of 23 countries, for a total amount of €3.6 billion. Over the financial programming period 2014-2020, it may mobilise up to €500 million a year.
The new provisions, which are based on proposals tabled by the Commission in July 2013, allow member states to submit applications for aid 12 months after a disaster. The Commission will then have six weeks to make its decision on the basis of the eligibility criteria, and of the amounts to be agreed. The main criterion is an intervention threshold, of at least 1.5% of the GDP of the region in question. The current framework features various criteria; the revised framework will make the European Commission's work in dealing with the requests easier. The extremely remote regions will enjoy an exception, as the threshold will be set at 1% for these. In order to ensure the reactivity of the EUSF, advance payments can be made of up to €50 million (as recommended by the European Commission). To encourage the member states to do more to prevent crisis situations, the Commission will be able to reject applications from countries or reduce its intervention if this country has already benefited from aid under the EUSF but not set in place EU rules to prevent and manage risks. The European Parliament will adopt the revised regulation at its April plenary session. (MD)