On Friday 26 August, a European source told EUROPE that Italy has 12 weeks from 24 August - the date it was struck by a violent earthquake - to ask for the EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF) to be mobilised.
The 12-week timeframe was defined to leave time for the competent authorities that want to request the EUSF to assess the cost of the damage caused by a natural disaster - in this case, the cost of the damage caused by the earthquake that devastated the region of Umbria (EUROPE 11608).
The EUSF can only be activated in cases of "major" disaster. As regards Italy, the threshold is set at €3 billion (2011 price) of direct damage. In addition, for a regional disaster the country can only take advantage of the fund when the damage caused rises to over 1.5% of the regional GDP. When the disaster is transregionl, the threshold is calculated by taking account of the average regional GDP weighted by its share in the total direct damage.
Italy has already used the EUSF three times since it was created - in 2002, following an earthquake in the region of Molise, in 2009 after an earthquake in the Abruzzo region, and in 2012 following an earthquake in the region of Emilia-Romagna.
The EUSF was created to address natural disasters following the floods that hit central Europe during the summer of 2002. It has since been used around 70 times in 24 European states for a total of €3.7 billion. The fund is aimed at helping the recovery of essential infrastucture (water, energy, transport, telecoms, health and education) as quickly as possible, at helping temporary accommodation to be provided, at securing infrastructure such as dams and embankments, at protecting cultural heritage, and at supporting clean-up operations.
The European Commission is also expecting a request from Italy to reprogramme the regional programmes of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This would not be the first time for the Italian peninsula either, as it used this type of adjustment back in 2009 in addition to the EUSF. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)