The European Commission granted €211.7 million from the EU solidarity fund to Italy following the extreme weather damages in late October and November 2019.
This EU assistance will contribute to alleviate the extraordinary financial burden of the severe damages caused by floods and landslides, including the flooding in Venice.
It will finance retroactively the restoration of vital infrastructure, measures to prevent further damage and to protect cultural heritage, as well as cleaning operations in the disaster-stricken areas.
This is part of an aid package of a total of €279 million addressed to Portugal, Spain, Italy and Austria hit by natural disasters in 2019. Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira commented: “This decision is yet another sign of the EU solidarity with Italy and Member States suffering from adverse effects of natural disasters.”
“It also reminds us of the importance of investing into the EU climate action to prevent and manage consequences of bad weather conditions and side-effects of climate change.”
The EU Solidarity Fund is one of the main EU instruments for disaster recovery and, as part of the EU coordinated response to the coronavirus emergency; its scope has been recently extended to cover major health emergencies.
