Debate: Review of the European Union Solidarity Fund
Date: MONDAY, 17 MAY 2021
Speaker: Nicolas Schmit
Language: EN

Solidarity is a core value upon which the Union is built. The European Union Solidarity Fund was created, as already mentioned, in 2002 to provide EU solidarity by contributing to post-disaster relief in Member States and accession countries confronted with devastating natural disasters and major public health emergencies. Between 2002 and 2020, the fund mobilised a total of over 6.5 billion for interventions in 96 disasters in 23 Member States and one accession country. Italy is by far the biggest beneficiary of the fund, with more than 3 billion received so far. The second biggest beneficiary is Germany, followed by Croatia, due to the devastating earthquake in Zagreb in March 2020. The EU Solidarity Fund evaluation completed in 2019 confirmed the effectiveness of the fund and the synergies between the EU Solidarity Fund and other EU policy instruments for disaster risk management. It also concluded that EUSF brings clear EU added value and demonstrates EU solidarity in action. As noted by the report, Member States and regions are increasingly confronted with natural disasters, which appear to be linked to climate change, as already mentioned by the rapporteur. In 2020 the EU Solidarity Fund continued to offer vital support, providing financial relief but, at the same time, a clear and tangible sign of European solidarity to the populations affected. The solidarity principle is embedded in the nature of the instrument and its activation. The fund should intervene only when the exceptional nature of a disaster puts a particularly heavy burden on the country or region affected. Furthermore, support from the EU fund helps to increase the Member States’ and regions’ resilience and preparedness to address the consequences of these natural disasters. In 2020, more than 969 million of assistance was awarded to six Member States in order to help them finance emergency and recovery operations after the natural disasters which affected those countries and the regions. In addition, in 2020 the Commission received nine new natural disaster applications. At the same time, as part of the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative, the fund regulation was amended last year in order to extend its scope to major public health emergencies, and I take the proposal perhaps to deepen this aspect in case of sanitary or pandemic, like the one we are just in. As a result, the Commission has proposed an overall package of almost 530 million of the fund assistance to the efforts deployed by 17 Member States and three accession countries to fight the COVID-19 health emergency. I would like to give a pertinent and recent example for EUSF assistance in the context of natural disasters. 2020 was extremely challenging for Croatia. The country went through two terrible earthquakes – one in March 2020, and later between December and January this year there was a series of earthquakes. The EU has shown genuine and quick solidarity with the people of Croatia from day one to provide emergency help in kind and in funds. The EU Solidarity Fund provided the total amount of 683.7 million assistance already in 2020 to Croatia after the first earthquake. This is the second highest absolute amount ever paid by the fund for emergency and recovery operations after a natural disaster. It is clear, though, that a sustainable recovery in Croatia from such devastating earthquakes will take many years and considerable financial resources. Therefore, the Commission is advising to use the EUSF funding in complementarity with other available funding resources, for example the cohesion policy funding and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. In recent years the Commission has put an increasing focus on prevention, climate adaption and risk management policies, and through its research programme Horizon 2020 and incoming Horizon Europe, new technologies are being developed to tackle these challenges. For cohesion policy, disaster risk management is vital, because local and regional authorities are the first to face the impact of disasters, because it is a cost-effective investment in preventing future losses and because it contributes to sustainable development. In 2014-2020, cohesion policy invested almost 8 billion across the EU in climate change adaption and risk prevention in the EU. This includes a broad array of support. The Commission’s proposals for cohesion policy after 2020 include precisely disaster risk management and climate adaption as specific objectives.