European solidarity was immediately expressed through the mobilisation of civil protection resources and words during last weekend’s floods, which left 27 people dead in Belgium and at least 165 dead in Germany and caused considerable damage, according to a provisional assessment on Monday 19 July, at a time when neighbouring countries were affected.
And European leaders, such as Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have seen these events as an effect of climate change.
“We just had these terrible events in Belgium, the Netherlands, in Germany, but also in Austria and Switzerland. They remind us how high the costs are if we don’t act, the costs of human suffering and also the financial costs”, said Mrs von der Leyen, speaking from Prague at a press conference with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on the Czech recovery and resilience plan.
Hoping that the Czech Republic would be “spared”, she recalled that the country had nevertheless already experienced tornadoes. And to affirm: “The big picture is clear: we have to do more on climate protection, on climate adaptation (...) and we have to act quickly”.
On Sunday, seeing the destruction of the village of Schuld (Rhineland-Palatinate), where some inhabitants have lost everything, Mrs Merkel said: “The German language has difficulty finding words to describe the devastation caused”. She immediately called for a “very big effort” to accelerate climate action.
On Saturday, Mrs von der Leyen and the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, visited Rochefort, Belgium, to assess the damage and show their solidarity. “We Europeans are with you at this difficult time, with all our hearts”, the Commission President said.
On Twitter, the Commissioner said he was “proud that more than 170 rescuers from Italy and Austria were deployed through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, providing emergency assistance to affected people”, in response to Belgium’s request for assistance on 14 July (see EUROPE 12763/34).
EU Solidarity Fund. Belgium has already announced its intention to request the activation of the EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF), for a sum of several hundred million euros, the specialised website Euractiv.com reported on Monday 19 July. At the time of writing, the German, Austrian and Dutch governments had not yet made any official announcement. “At the moment there are only some first contacts with the authorities”, confirmed a European source.
As a reminder, Member States have 12 weeks from the event to prepare the application for EUSF funding, including the damage assessment. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang, Pascal Hansens and Mathieu Bion)