Brussels, 18/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission adopted a proposal which should help to restore the rural areas of the Czech Republic and Slovakia that were devastated by the floods this summer. The Commission hopes to amend the pre-accession instrument for agriculture (SAPARD) in a way that the ceiling of public aid would be increased from 50% to 75% and the EU contribution from 75% to 85% of this public aid part for relevant SAPARD projects in the rural areas affected. Although the SAPARD programme does not have any specific provisions relating to actions in the wake of natural disasters, the Commission considers that the measures taken to help restore rural areas fall under the scope of the SAPARD regulation. "We stand by the farmers and rural communities so severely hit by these floods. This proposal will also allow us to better respond to such exceptional natural disasters in the candidate countries in the future", said Commissioner Franz Fischler. Mr Fischler had announced end August that the Commission was willing to double the allocations advanced to these two countries under the SAPARD programme: EUR 5.5 million for the Czech Republic and EUR 4.6 million for Slovakia.