Report from the Commission - European Union Solidarity Fund - Annual report 2004
Date: 2005-12-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU financial instrument, activity report, aid to disaster victims, economic support, emergency aid, man-made disaster, natural disaster

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 23.12.2005 
COM(2005)709 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

European Union Solidarity Fund 
Annual report 2004 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Pending applications received in 2003......................................................................... 3 

New applications received in 2004 .............................................................................. 4 

Financing...................................................................................................................... 6 

Monitoring ................................................................................................................... 6 

Closures........................................................................................................................ 7 

Preparation of a new Solidarity Fund Regulation ........................................................ 9 

Conclusions ................................................................................................................................ 9 

Annex 1: European Union Solidarity Fund applications in 2004 ............................................ 11 

Annex 2: Criteria to mobilise the EU Solidarity Fund............................................................. 12 

Annex 3: Determination of the amount of aid.......................................................................... 13 

Annex 4: Thresholds for major disasters applicable in 2004 ................................................... 14 

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INTRODUCTION 

The  European  Union  Solidarity  Fund  entered  into  force  on  15  November  20021. 
Article 12 of the Regulation provides that a report on the activity of the Fund in the 
previous year be presented to the European Parliament and to the Council. This, the 
second  report,  presents  the  activities  of  the  Fund  in  2004  covering  four  areas:  the 
completion of the processing of a number of pending applications received in 2003, 
the treatment of new applications received in the course of 2004, monitoring of the 
ongoing implementation of grants, and the assessment of the implementation reports 
on the first grants made in 2002 with a view to preparing these for closure. 

In addition, the report covers the preparatory work on a proposal of the Commission 
for  a  new  Regulation  on  the  Solidarity  Fund  for  the  period  after  the  expiry  of  the 
current Financial Perspective in 2006. 

1. 

PENDING APPLICATIONS RECEIVED IN 2003 

In  2003,  the  Commission  received  10  new  applications  to  mobilise  the  Fund2.  For 
three of these, the Prestige oil spill in Spain, and in Italy the Molise earthquake and 
the eruption of Mount Etna, grant decisions had already been adopted at the end of 
2003 (8 December for the two Italian applications and 15 December for the Prestige 
case).  The  corresponding  implementation  agreements  were  signed  by  the  two 
beneficiary  States  on  16  January  2004.  The  three  grants  were  then  paid  out  on  11 
March 2004 as soon as the corresponding credits (committed already in 2003 at the 
moment the grant decisions were taken) had been carried over to the 2004 budget. 

On 9 March 2004, the Commission took the following six decisions, five of which 
concerned applications already received in 2003: 

The application from Greece, announced on 28 February 2003 and substantiated by 
information  presented  on  7  May  and  30  September,  resulted  from  unusual  weather 
(heavy  rainfall,  storms,  unusual  snowfall)  over  the  period  from  11  December  2002 
until the end of March 2003 and affected parts of all of Greece’s regions. Additional 
information  in  accordance  with  the  criteria  in  the  Regulation  was  submitted  by  the 
Greek  authorities  on  7  May  2003  and  30  September  2003.  Evaluation  of  this 
information  revealed  that  the  rule  that  requires  applications  to  be  presented  within 
the deadline of 10 weeks after the first damage was recorded had not been respected. 
The  Commission  therefore  decided  that  the  application  was  inadmissible  and 
informed the Greek authorities by letter of 14 April accordingly. 

In  September  2003,  France  presented  an  application,  based  on  the  extraordinary 
regional disaster criterion3, relating to a series of forest fires which struck different 

1 

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3 

Council Regulation (EC) N° 2012/2002 of 11 November 2002 establishing the European Union Solidar-
ity Fund, OJ L 311/3 of 14.11.2002, in the following referred to as “the Regulation”. 
For details see European Union Solidarity Fund Annual Report 2002-2003, COM(2004) 397 final of 26 
May 2004 
The criteria to mobilise the EU Solidarity Fund are defined in Article of Regulation 2012/2002, see An-
nex 2 

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parts of south-eastern France and the island of Corsica during July and August 2003. 
The  Commission  decided  to  reject  this  application  because  the  conditions  of  the 
Regulation  for  applying  the  extraordinary  regional  disaster  criterion  had  not  been 
met.  These  conditions  do  not  allow  damage  to  be  aggregated  from  unconnected 
areas, even where that damage has a common underlying cause. In addition, it was 
not  demonstrated  that  any  of  the  individual  fires  met  the  criteria  imposed  by  the 
Regulation,  in  particular,  in  relation  to  the  part  of  population  affected  and  lasting 
repercussions  on  living  conditions  and  economic  stability.  The  French  authorities 
were informed of this decision by letter of 7 April. 

On 1 October 2003, the Commission received an application from Spain concerning 
a  series  of  forest  fires  that  had  occurred  in  different  locations  during  the  summer. 
After  discussions  with  the  Commission,  the  Spanish  authorities  decided  to  revise 
their  initial  application  on  14  November  limiting  it  to  those  fires  in  provinces 
neighbouring  Portugal.  After  evaluation  of 
the 
Commission decided that one of those fires met the “neighbouring country” criterion 
as  it  was  considered  to  have  been  caused  by  the  same  major  disaster  that  had 
previously been recognised for Portugal4. Following completion of the corresponding 
budgetary  procedure,  aid  amounting  to  EUR 1.331 million  was  granted  by  decision 
of 10 June5. The implementation agreement was signed on 26 July and the payment 
was made on 6 September 2004. 

information  provided, 

the 

On 10 November 2003, Malta presented an application relating to the disaster caused 
by  a  heavy  storm  and  subsequent  flooding  that  hit  Malta  on  15  September  2003. 
Although damages in absolute terms were rather limited (EUR 30.172 million) they 
were  sufficient  to  exceed  the  threshold  of  0.6%  of  Malta’s  GNI  (€  24.26  million). 
The  disaster  therefore  qualified  as  a  major  natural  disaster  and  the  Commission 
decided on 30 April to grant aid amounting to EUR 961 220. Negotiations over the 
implementation agreement were completed only on 26 October 2004. The grant was 
then paid out within two weeks. 

Italy presented an application on 6 November 2003 relating to a case of flooding in 
the Friuli Venezia-Giulia province at the end of August. Additional information was 
presented  on  5  January  2004.  The  disaster  concerned  seven  municipalities  with  a 
total of 11 400 inhabitants. The level of damage estimated by the Italian authorities 
totalled  some  EUR 525 million,  but  represented  only  17%  of  the  normal  threshold 
for major disasters in Italy. The information submitted did not suggest that “serious 
and  lasting  repercussions  on  living  conditions  and  the  economic  stability”  of  the 
region  concerned  had  taken  place.  The  Commission  therefore  decided  to  reject  the 
application and by letter of 7 April informed the Italian authorities accordingly. 

2. 

NEW APPLICATIONS RECEIVED IN 2004 

In  the  course  of  2004  the  Commission  received  11  new  applications  for  Solidarity 
Fund assistance. Annex 1 gives a detailed overview of all cases. 

4 
5 

For details see Annual Report 2002-2003, p. 12 and p. 20; 
For the determination of the amount of aid the Commission continued to apply the method described in 
the Annual Report 2002/2003 (pages 23-24), see Annex 3 

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The first application in 2004 was received from France on 26 January and concerned 
the severe flooding that affected several departments in the southern Rhone area in 
December 2003. The information provided by the French authorities claimed that the 
affected  region  covered  a  coherent  area  comprising  the  territory  of  53  communes 
with a population of 295 000 inhabitants, two-thirds of which were considered to be 
directly  affected  by  the  disaster.  Major  damage  to  businesses,  including  the  almost 
complete destruction of the two most important industrial centres of the region (Arles 
and Gard Rhodanien), were expected to have lasting repercussions on the economic 
stability of the region, including the permanent loss of some 4000 jobs in the area. 
The Commission concluded on 9 March that the conditions for mobilising the Soli-
darity  Fund  under  the  extraordinary  regional  disaster  criterion  were  met  and  –  fol-
lowing completion of the corresponding budgetary procedure - decided on 7 May to 
grant  aid  amounting  to  EUR 19.625 million.  The  implementation  agreement  was 
signed on 10 May and the aid was paid out on 7 July 2004. 

On 3 June 2004, Spain applied for assistance relating to flooding in the province of 
to  have  caused  some 
Malaga  during  March.  The  disaster  was  claimed 
EUR 73 million (only 2.5% of the normal major disaster threshold). Based on the in-
formation  provided  by  the  Spanish  authorities  the  Commission  concluded  that  the 
flooding met none of the conditions of the Regulation for extraordinary regional dis-
asters (share of population affected, serious and lasting repercussions on living con-
ditions and the economic stability of the region). On 14 July the Commission there-
fore decided to reject the application and informed the Spanish authorities of this de-
cision by letter of 26 July 2004. 

On 8 September Spain submitted a single application relating to eight forest fires that 
had  occurred  in  different  parts  of  Spain  during  the  summer  2004.  As  total  direct 
damage  for  the  eight  disasters  taken  together  remained  below  the  major  disaster 
threshold the application was based on the extraordinary regional disaster criterion. 
Since Regulation 2012/2002 does not allow damage from several areas to be aggre-
gated, the Spanish authorities presented on 4 October 2004 seven individual applica-
tions for the different fires, again based on the extraordinary regional disaster crite-
rion.  According  to  the  information  provided total  direct  damages  for  the  individual 
fires varied from € 0.215 million to € 351.138 million. Analysis by the Commission 
services revealed that direct damage was limited and that the criteria in the Regula-
tion regarding the share of population affected and regarding serious and lasting re-
percussions  on  living  conditions  and  the  economic  stability  of  the  affected  regions 
were not met. The Commission therefore decided on 8 March 2005 to reject all seven 
applications  and  informed  the  Spanish  authorities  of  this  decision  by  letter  of  18 
April. 

Slovenia applied on 20 September relating to a minor earthquake that had occurred 
in  July  in  the  north  eastern  part  of  the  country  causing  damage  estimated  at 
EUR 12.5 million. Following  a letter  from the  Commission  services of 26 October, 
requesting more detailed information, Slovenia withdrew the application. 

On 7 October Slovakia applied for assistance following flooding that had occurred in 
July/August.  Damage  was  claimed  to  amount  to  EUR 29 million,  representing  less 
than 20% of the major disaster threshold of EUR 147.89 million applicable to Slova-
kia (0.6% of GNI). In its application Slovakia stated that only 0.7% of the population 
in the affected region was affected and that “no serious and lasting repercussions on 

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living  conditions  and  the  economic  stability  of  the  region”  were  expected.  The 
Commission  therefore  concluded  that  the  criteria  for  exceptionally  mobilising  the 
Solidarity Fund were not met and decided on 16 February 2005 to reject the applica-
tion.  The  Slovak  authorities  were  informed  of  this  decision  by  letter  of  14  March 
2005. 

3. 

FINANCING 

The  six  cases  were  dealt  with  by  means  of  two  amending  budgets.  The  first  three 
cases were grouped in Preliminary Draft Amending Budget (PDAB) 5/20036 which 
was  approved  in  Autumn  2003.  However,  as  the  implementation  agreements  in  all 
these cases could only be signed in January 2004, the resources granted by amending 
budget in 2003 needed to be transferred to 2004. Payments could finally be made on 
11  March  2004.  The  remaining  three  cases  were  grouped  in  PDAB  5/20047.  The 
Budgetary  Authority  approved  this  amending  budget  quite  rapidly  so  that  the  first 
subsequent grant decision could be approved by the Commission already on 30 April 
2004.  In  all  six  cases,  the  amending  budgets  asked  for  commitment  appropriations 
only. The necessary payment appropriations were provided from the budget line for 
the Cohesion Fund. 

The amounts of aid in each case were determined on the basis of the standard method 
previously  developed  by  the  Commission  (explained  in  detail  in  the  annual  report 
2002/2003). The amounts of aid paid out in 2004 were the following: 

Beneficiary

Disaster 

Category 

Spain 
Italy 
Italy 
Spain 
Malta 
France 
Total 

Prestige oil spill 
Molise earthquake 
Mount Etna eruption 
Forest fire (PT border) 
Flooding and storm 
Rhone flooding 

regional 
regional 
regional 
neighbouring country 
major 
regional 

Aid granted 
(million EUR) 
8.626
30.826
16.798
1.331
0.96122
19.625
78.167220

4. 

MONITORING 

The Commission undertook monitoring visits to Portugal (forest fires) in April, and 
to Rome (Etna and Molise) in June. These visits were welcomed by the authorities 
concerned  and  provided  the  occasion  to  respond  to  technical  issues  such  as  those 
concerning  eligibility  of  expenditure  and  control  issues.  They  also  allowed  the 
Commission to gain an impression of the added value of the Solidarity Fund and to 
gather information on its implementation system. 

6 
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SEC(2003)826 of 16 July 2003 
EC(2004)269 of 9 March 2004 

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5. 

CLOSURES 

Article 8 (2)  of  Regulation 2012/2002 states that  no  later  than  six  months  after  the 
expiry  of  the  one-year  period  from  the  date  of  disbursement  of  the  grant,  the 
beneficiary State shall present a report on the financial execution of the grant with a 
statement justifying the expenditure (hereinafter: a “validity statement”). At the end 
of this procedure, the Commission shall wind up the assistance from the Fund. 

In  2004,  the  Commission  received  four  implementation  reports  from  Germany, 
Austria, the Czech Republic and France relating to the first Solidarity Fund grants of 
2002. 

The implementation report from Germany on the use of the Solidarity Fund grant of 
€  444  million  was  received  on  25  June  2004.  The  validity  statement  and 
supplementary information on the implementation in the Land of Saxony, which was 
mainly  affected  by  the  disaster,  was  received  on  13  October  2004.  The  report 
contains  a  list  of  all  operations  for  each  implementing  body,  indicating  the  type  of 
operation.  Germany  reported  that  the  total  EUSF  grant  of  €  444  million  had  been 
disbursed within the one-year period after the receipt of the aid. No aid was paid for 
operations  prior  to  the  date  of  the  first  damage.  On  the  basis  of  the  information 
received,  the  Commission  accepted  the  declared  expenditure  as  eligible.  A  detailed 
description  of  preventive  measures  has  been  provided  in  the  report.  The  initial 
damage  estimate  in  the  application  of  €  9.068  billion  compares  to  an  “ex  post” 
damage amount of € 10.6 billion. Germany confirmed that the operations detailed in 
the  validity  statement  have  not  received  a  contribution  from  other  Community  or 
international sources of financing and that the expenditure was not covered by a third 
party.  In  Germany,  the  Federal  Ministry  of  Finance  was  responsible  for  the 
coordination  of  the  execution  of  the  grant,  which  was  carried  out  by  a  number  of 
public bodies and regions. At the end of 2004, one out of the eighteen sub-statements 
of validity provided by the German authorities could not yet be accepted due to the 
absence of expenditure checks, which were envisaged for mid 2005. In this respect, 
the Commission asked for additional information and clarifications on 23 December 
2004. 

The  implementation  report  and  the  validity  statement  from  Austria  with  respect  to 
the  grant  of  €  134  million  was  received  on  18  June  2004.  Complementary 
information was submitted on 5 November 2004 und 15 November 2004. The report 
contains  a  list  of  all  operations  in  the  affected  regions,  classified  by  type  of 
operation,  the  total  amount  of  expenditure  incurred  and  the  amount  of  EUSF 
financing as well as a detailed description of preventive measures. Austria stated that 
the amount of damage initially estimated was confirmed “ex post”. On the basis of 
the  information  received,  the  Commission  accepted  the  declared  expenditure  as 
eligible. No aid was paid for operations prior to the date of the first damage and all 
aid  has  been  disbursed.  The  aid  was  disbursed  within  the  one-year  period  after  the 
receipt of the aid in Austria. The Austrian authorities confirmed that the operations 
detailed  in  the  validity  statement  have  not  received  a  contribution  from  other 
Community  or  international  sources  of  financing  and  that  the  expenditure  was  not 
covered  by  a  third  party.  On  23  December  2004,  the  Commission  wound  up  the 
assistance. 

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The implementation report and the statement of validity from the Czech Republic on 
the  use  of  the  grant  of  € 129  million  was  received  on  17 July 2004.  The  Czech 
authorities  submitted  additional 
information  on  15  November  2004.  The 
implementation  report  contains  a  list  of  all  operations,  indicating  the  type  of 
operation. No aid was paid for operations prior to the date of the first damage. On the 
basis  of  the  description  of  the  operations  in  the  implementation  report  the  declared 
expenditure is considered eligible. The report also provided a detailed description of 
preventive  measures  initiated.  The  initial  damage  estimate  of  CZK  70228  million 
(€ 2.341  billion)  compares  to  an  “ex  post”  damage  amount  of  CZK  73142  million 
(€ 2.438 billion)8. The Czech authorities confirmed that the operations detailed in the 
validity  statement  have  not  received  a  contribution  from  other  Community  or 
international sources of financing and that the expenditure is not covered by a third 
party. The Centre for Foreign Assistance of the Ministry of Finance was responsible 
for  the  implementation  of  the  grant.  The  Czech  authorities  indicated  that  the  total 
amount of the grant has been disbursed within the one-year period after the receipt of 
the  aid.  After  the  end  of  the  eligibility  period,  the  National  Fund’s  source  account 
however contained a balance of funds not used, which consisted of funds transferred 
back from the implementing agencies, recoveries and generated interests. At the end 
of 2004,  further  clarifications regarding the information on the disbursement  of the 
grant  in  the  implementation  report  and  the  balance  of  Funds  not  used  during  the 
eligibility period were requested by the Commission. 

The implementation report from France related to the grant of € 21 million received 
after the severe floods in the département of the Gard in September 2002. That report 
and  the  validity  statement  were  received  on  28  June  2004.  Additional  information 
was submitted on 12 November 2004. The report contains a list of all operations in 
the affected region, classified by type of operation, the total amount of expenditure 
incurred  and  the  amount  of  EUSF  financing  as  well  as  a  detailed  description  of 
preventive  measures.  No  aid  was  paid  for  operations  prior  to  the  date  of  the  first 
damage and, apart from an amount of € 9.08, all aid has been disbursed. On the basis 
of the information received, the declared expenditure is considered eligible. The aid 
was  disbursed  within  the  one-year  period  after  the  receipt  of  the  aid.  The  French 
authorities confirmed that the operations detailed in the validity statement have not 
received a contribution from another Community or international source of financing 
and  that  the  expenditure  is  not  covered  by  compensation  for  or  reimbursement  of 
damage  provided  by  a  third  party.  The  initial  damage  estimate  in  the  application 
amounted to € 834.5 million. An assessment of the total damages “ex post” resulted 
in an amount of € 830.6 million, i.e. € 3.9 million less. Article 10(2) of Regulation 
2012/2002  states  that,  “In  case  of  significantly  lower  valuation  of  the  damage 
incurred,  as  shown  by  new  elements,  the  Commission  shall  require  the  beneficiary 
State  to  reimburse  a  corresponding  amount  of  the  grant.”  In  effect,  the  legislation 
requires  the  Commission  to  compare  the  final  estimate  of  damages,  in  this  case 
€ 830.6  million,  with  the  amount  forecast  by  the  beneficiary  State  and  accepted  by 
the Commission, and to make a judgement on whether or not there should have been 
a  lower  payment.  In  view  of  the  requirement  in  the  Regulation  to  submit  the 
application  for  assistance  from  the  Fund  no  later  than  10  weeks  after  the  first 
damage,  it  is  clear  that  any  indication  of  the  damage  at  the  date  of  application  can 

8 

For the purposes of the Solidarity Fund the amounts in national currency are converted into EURO at 
the official exchange rate applicable at the moment of the application.  

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only  be  an  estimate.  The  deviation  of  €  3.9  million  in  the  initial  estimate  from  the 
actual  amount  of  damages  amounts  to  less  than  0.5  %  of  the  damage.  The 
Commission considers that such a deviation did not constitute a “significantly lower 
valuation  of  the  damage  incurred”.  Consequently,  it  proceeded  with  the  closure  of 
the assistance. On 22 February 2005, the Commission wound up the assistance. 

6. 

PREPARATION OF A NEW SOLIDARITY FUND REGULATION 

The  Commission  Communication  on  the  Financial  Perspectives  of  14 July 20049 
proposed  to  bring together  the  various existing and  envisaged crisis mechanisms at 
European level into a single “Solidarity and Rapid Reaction Instrument”. During the 
second half of 2004 the Commission services worked intensively on the preparation 
of a legislative proposal. At the end of 2004 work was still in full progress10. 

CONCLUSIONS 

In  2004  a  total  of  11  new  applications  were  presented  to  the  Commission  none  of 
which,  on  the  basis  of  the  evidence  submitted,  met  the  major  disaster  criterion.  In 
effect,  the  Member  States  have  been  making  increasing  use  of  the  extraordinary 
regional disaster criterion which is foreseen for exceptional circumstances. 

The  processing  of  cases  presented  in  2004  demonstrated  that  the  conditions  for  a 
successful  application  under  the  extraordinary  regional  disaster  criterion  -  which 
according to the Regulation are to be examined by the Commission “with the utmost 
rigour”  –  are  relatively  difficult  to  meet.  A  particular  case  is  that  of  forest  fires, 
where  as  a  result  of  their  very  nature,  the  population  directly  affected  tends  to  be 
rather limited. The condition by which at least half of the population in the area must 
be affected can rarely be met. 

After analysis by the Commission, there was sufficient evidence for the approval of 
only one of the eleven applications arising in 2004. 

As a matter of governance, this suggests that when reviewing the current Solidarity 
Fund Regulation, as stipulated by its Article 14, the eligibility criteria of the EUSF 
should being given particular attention. Such improvements should aim, in particular, 
to  remove  uncertainty  regarding  the  possibility  of  assistance  for  certain  kinds  of 
disaster.  This  would  allow  Member  States  to  be  more  selective  in  the  cases 
submitted. In that way, the costs of preparing detailed applications would be reduced, 
as would the risk of unjustifiably raising expectations in the affected areas regarding 
support from the EUSF. 

The  Commission  has  found  that  the  processing  of  requests  relating  to  regional 
disasters  necessitated  in  many  instances  additional  detailed  information  from  the 
applicant countries. In turn, this tended to add to the time necessary to complete the 
assessment of applications. 

9 
10 

COM(2004) 101. 
Details  on  the  legislative  proposal  presented  on  6  April  2005  will  be  presented  in  the  Annual  report 
2005 

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While it should be recalled that the Solidarity Fund is a re-financing instrument for 
emergency operations rather than an emergency instrument itself, delays between the 
disaster and the payment of the grant are relatively long. As long as the financing of 
the Fund remains outside the normal Community budget –thus requiring recourse to 
a  full  budgetary  procedure  in  each  case  of  mobilisation  of  the  Fund  –  scope  for 
reducing the time between receipt of a complete application and the grant payment is 
relatively limited. 

The  final  reports  on  the  first  interventions  dating  back  to  2002  and  the  subsequent 
winding  up  of  these  operations  tended  to  confirm  the  significant  impact  and  added 
value  that  the  assistance  from  the  Fund  has  had  in  the  countries  concerned.  This 
relates both to the physical operations carried out on the ground and to the political 
benefits of solidarity among Member States in cases of real need. The final reports 
have also highlighted the positive impact that Solidarity Fund grants have had on the 
introduction  of  preventive  measures  aiming  to  avoid  the  recurrence  of  similar 
disasters. 

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Annex 1 
European Union Solidarity Fund applications in 2004 

Applicant Country 

FR 

ES 

SI 

SK 

ES 

ES 

ES 

ES 

ES 

ES 

ES 

Name and nature of 
disaster 

France- 
flooding 

Malaga 
flooding 

Earthquake 

Flooding 

Forest fires
Zamora 

Forest fires 
Valencia 

Forest fires
Orense 

Forest fires
Minas del 
Riotinto 

Forest fires
Jaén 

Forest fires
Huelva 

Forest fires 
Escacena 
del Campo 

First damage date 

1/12/03 

27/03/04 

12/07/04 

30/07/04 

17/07/2004 

12/08/2004 

24/07/2004 

27/07/2004 

26/08/2004 

28/08/2004 

30/06/2004 

Application date* 

26/01/04 

3/06/04 

20/09/2004 

7/10/04 

4/10/04 

4/10/04 

4/10/04 

4/10/04 

4/10/04 

4/10/04 

4/10/04 

Major disaster thresh-
old (m€) 

Total direct damage 
(m€)** 

Major/regional/ 
neighbouring disas-
ter? 

3 066.255 

3 066.255 

139.615 

147.893 

3 066.255 

3 066.255 

3 066.255 

3 066.255 

3 066.255 

3 066.255 

3 066.255 

785 

73 

12.50 

29.07 

0.215 

5.462 

0.975 

351.138 

78.172 

28.804 

15.009 

regional  

regional 

regional 

regional 

regional 

regional 

regional 

regional 

regional 

regional 

regional 

Damage/threshold 

25.6% 

2.4% 

9% 

0.1% 

0.007% 

0.2% 

0.03% 

11.5% 

2.5% 

0.9% 

0.5% 

Cost of eligible emer-
gency operations 
(m€)** 

Eligible cost/ total 
damage 

Aid/eligible cost 

Aid rate 
(% of total damage) 

131.60 

16.8% 

14.91% 

2.5 % 

~ 

~ 

~ 

~ 

not clear 

(23.170) 

(0.215) 

(4.007) 

(0.752) 

44.072) 

(20.968) 

(8.055) 

(2.496) 

Date of grant decision 

7/05/2004 

rejected 

application 
withdrawn 

rejected 

rejected 

rejected 

rejected 

rejected 

rejected 

rejected 

rejected 

Date of Implementa-
tion agreement 

Amount of aid 
granted (m€) 

10/05/2004 

19.625 

~ 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

* 

Registration of initial application at Commission 

**  As accepted by Commission 

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Annex 2 
Criteria to mobilise the EU Solidarity Fund 

Extract from Council Regulation 2012/2002: 

“Article 2: 

1.  At  the  request  of  a  Member  State  or  country  involved  in  accession  negotiations  with  the 
European Union, hereinafter referred to as ‘beneficiary State’, assistance from the Fund may 
be mainly mobilised when a major natural disaster with serious repercussions on living condi-
tions, the natural environment or the economy in one or more regions or one or more coun-
tries occurs on the territory of that State. 

2. A ‘major disaster’ within the meaning of this Regulation means any disaster resulting, in 
at least one of the States concerned, in damage estimated either at over EUR 3 billion in 2002 
prices, or more than 0,6 % of its GNI. 

By way of exception, a neighbouring Member State or country involved in accession nego-
tiations with the European Union, which has been affected by the same disaster can also bene-
fit from assistance from the Fund. 

However, under exceptional circumstances, even when the quantitative criteria laid down in 
the first subparagraph are not met, a region could also benefit from assistance from the Fund, 
where that region has been affected by an extraordinary disaster, mainly a natural one, af-
fecting the major part of its population, with serious and lasting repercussions on living condi-
tions and the economic stability of the region. Total annual assistance under this subparagraph 
shall be limited to no more than 7,5 % of the annual amount available to the Fund. Particular 
focus will be on remote or isolated regions, such as the insular and outermost regions as de-
fined in Article 299(2) of the Treaty. The Commission shall examine with the utmost rigour 
any requests which are submitted to it under this subparagraph.” 

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Annex 3 
Determination of the amount of aid 

A progressive system in two brackets is applied whereby a country affected by a disaster re-
ceives a lower rate of aid of 2.5% for the part of total direct damage below the “major disas-
ter” threshold and a higher share of aid of 6% for the part of the damage exceeding the thresh-
old. The two amounts are added up. 

The threshold is the level of damage defined by the Regulation to trigger the intervention of 
the Fund, i.e. 0.6% of GNI or € 3 billion in 2002 prices. This element ensures that the relative 
capacity of a State to deal itself with a disaster is taken into account. It also ensures that for 
the  same  amount  of  damage  relatively  poorer  countries  receive  more  aid  in  absolute  terms 
than  richer  ones.  For  extraordinary  regional  disasters  the  same  method  has  been  applied, 
meaning consequently that countries affected by those disasters, which by definition remain 
below the threshold, receive 2.5 % of total direct damage in aid. 

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Annex 4 
Thresholds for major disasters applicable in 2004 
(based on 2002 figures for Gross National Income) 

Country 

GNI 2002 

0.6% of GNI 

(Million €)

Major disaster 
threshold 2004* 

AT  ÖSTERREICH 

BE  BELGIQUE-BELGIË 

BG  BALGARIJA 

CY  KYPROS 

CZ  ČESKA REPUBLIKA 

216 343

264 499

16 332

10 783

74 168

DE  DEUTSCHLAND 

2 108 830

DK  DANMARK 

EE  EESTI 

EL  ELLADA 

ES  ESPAÑA 

FI 

SUOMI/FINLAND 

FR  FRANCE 

HU  MAGYARORSZÁG 

IE 

IT 

LT 

LU 

LV 

IRELAND 

ITALIA 

LIETUVA 

LUXEMBOURG (G-D) 

LATVIJA 

MT  MALTA 

NL  NEDERLAND 

PL  POLSKA 

PT  PORTUGAL 

RO  ROMÂNIA 

SE  SVERIGE 

SI 

SLOVENIJA 

SK  SLOVENSKÁ REPUBLIKA 

180 333

6554

141 571

687 643

139 374

1527 794

65 178

104 691

1 246 250

14 482

20 237

8 932

3 985

435 501

197 908

126 076

4 8362**

253 801

23 269

24 649

1 298.06

1 586.99

97.99

64.70

445.01

12 652.98

1 082.00

39.32

849.43

4 125.86

836.24

9 166.76

391.07

628.15

7 477.50

86.89

121.42

53.59

23.91

2 613.01

1 187.45

756.46

290.17

1 522.81

139.62

147.89

UK  UNITED KINGDOM 

1 690 615

10 143.69

* ~ € 3 billion in 2002 prices 
** GDP (GNI not available) 

1 298.06

1 586.99

97.99

64.70

445.01

3 066.26

1 082.00

39.32

849.43

3 066.26

836.24

3 066.26

391.07

628.15

3 066.26

86.89

121.42

53.59

23.91

2 613.01

1 187.45

756.46

290.17

1 522.81

139.62

147.89

3 066.26

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