The European Parliament adopted (668 votes in favour, 10 votes against, 18 abstentions), late on Tuesday 18 May, an own-initiative report calling for a simpler and faster application procedure for Member States under the EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF).
“It is time today, Commissioner, to go further and to start thinking about how to cover tomorrow’s health disasters, without having to legislate during an emergency to deal with that emergency, as we did during the Covid-19 crisis”, rapporteur Younous Omarjee (The Left, France) launched the day before in plenary session, referring to the pandemic and the multiplication of natural disasters related to global warming.
Thus, MEPs call on the Commission to pay particular attention to simplifying applications to activate the EUSF in several regions in the event of cross-border disasters. Indeed, the average advance payment period is 5 months. This period should be shortened, according to the parliamentarians.
They also point out that it is difficult for beneficiary countries to estimate the precise amount of damage in a “very short” period of time. They therefore suggest that the Commission prepare simplified guidelines and methods for determining the amount of EUSF support.
This subject is dear to the rapporteur’s heart: MEPs call on the European Commission to take better account of the outermost regions and islands (particularly affected by the effects of global warming) in the future revision of the EUSF.
They also point to the vagueness of the Fund’s budgetary allocation, following the merger of the EUSF with the new emergency aid reserve with an annual overall budget of €1.2 billion. They ask that the institution monitor the management of the reserve as closely as possible to ensure that the new financial distribution key meets the Fund’s needs.
To see the report: https://bit.ly/3eXm8sq (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)