Brussels, 17/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission will be proposing the creation of a European Disaster Fund and the budget instruments needed to fund it. The aim of the Fund will be to provide emergency aid the event of major natural, technological and environmental disasters to provide immediate electricity and water supplies, healthcare, security of the area (consolidating flood dykes, for example) and helping to rehouse people who have been forced to leave their homes. The Commission is recommending that the Fund also be used by candidate countries and Member States which where a significant proportion of the population being affected and/or damage of at least EUR 1 billion worth or the equivalent of 0.5% GDP. The country where the disaster has struck will have two months (from the date of the disaster) to apply for aid, and three years to actually spend the money. The Commission is expected to propose providing at least EUR 500 million this year and up to EUR 1 billion annually thereafter. The aid available for 2002 will mainly be used to help countries hit by the serious floods this summer. The Commission hopes that the European Parliament will endorse the setting up of the Fund at its session next week, Member States at the General Affairs Council of 30 September. Last Wednesday, the Commission proposed mechanisms for the release of the funding, in the form of a draft inter-institutional agreement.
zones; diverting unallocated funding for trans-European transport and energy networks; and authorization of state aid (see Europe of 29 August, p.6). European Regional Policy Commissioner, Michel Barnier, is responsible for the setting up of the Disaster Fund.
The Commission should also adopt two proposals by Michaele Schreyer which complement the draft inter-institutional agreement presented last week (see EUROPE of 12 September, p.9). It is foremost a question of an amending letter No.2 to the 2003 preliminary draft budget creating two new budgetary lines, one under heading 3 (internal policies) of the financial perspectives to enable Member states to benefit from this solidarity fund, and the other heading 7 (pre-accession aid) so that candidate countries may also receive such Community support. This amending letter also proposes establishing a budgetary structure to set up three administrative services in the Commission: - a "Paymaster Office" and two logistical services (one in Brussels and the other in Luxembourg). This proposal has no effect on the Community budget.
The other proposal is an amending letter No.1 complementing the amending and supplementary preliminary draft budget No.4 for 2002 (this ASB concerns additional aid of 70 million euro for Afghanistan currently under examination in Council and Parliament: see EUROPE of 22/23 July, p.9) having as goal to be able to mobilise funds this year in favour of regions affected by this summer's bad weather.
Finally, the Commission will adopt a proposal drawn up by the services of Commissioner Franz Fischler amending the regulation on pre-accession farm aid (Sapard), to enable the Czech Republic and Slovakia to benefit from better project funding conditions (as announced in EUROPE of 9 and 10 September, p.12).