Comité van de Regio's pleit voor een meer gebruiksvriendelijk en effectief Solidariteitsfonds (en) - Hoofdinhoud
Since its establishment in 2002, the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) has been the EU's main instrument for responding to major natural disasters in the EU Member States, such as the most recent floods in Italy, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. Today, the Committee of the Regions' (CoR) Plenary adopted its opinion on the EUSF and welcomed the improvements to the Fund presented in the European Commission's legislative proposal of July 2013, which include a clearer definition of disasters, a new and simple criterion for defining exceptional regional disasters based on a GDP-related threshold and the introduction of advance payments.
During the debate, the CoR drew attention to the fact that a lower threshold (1 % of regional GDP) for "extraordinary regional disasters" would be more appropriate, as this would enable all major disasters to be covered. As disasters are often concentrated in specific areas, it also proposed introducing the possibility of combining neighbouring NUTS 3 regions to meet the set criteria. "We must remember that disasters know no borders and we are therefore advocating that the Fund also cover these cross-border disasters", said rapporteur Pavel Branda (CZ/ECR), Deputy Mayor of Rádlo, who noted that "the regions and municipalities affected need the funding to be targeted at their real needs. Here, our proposal is to widen the scope of eligible operations, so that infrastructure is not simply replaced and restored to the same condition it was in before the disaster, but can be improved to make it more resilient or even relocated altogether".
The unanimously adopted opinion proposes the adjustment of deadlines so as to better reflect the needs of disaster struck regions. Given the possibility of long lasting floods and disasters, the CoR proposes that the deadline should be 10 weeks from the moment that the state of emergency is over rather than 10 weeks from the moment that the first damage is caused.
The CoR also proposes extending the deadline for the use of the Fund to 2 years. This would balance the European Commission's proposed change in the timetable for delivering resources. Under the proposed regulation, resources would reach the affected areas approximately 6 months earlier than before. This would mean a shorter period of time for the affected region to use the resources.
Rosa Estaràs Ferragut (ES/EPP), MEP and the European Parliament's (EP) rapporteur on the EUSF also spoke during the Plenary. She expressed support for the opinion noting that she would incorporate many elements into her own opinion in the Parliament. She said "the CoR will have a loud voice in this dossier". The European Parliament adopted an INI report on the reform of the EUSF in December 2012, and is currently preparing a resolution, that should be adopted by the REGI committee in February 2014 and by the EP Plenary in March 2014.
The CoR President Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso (ES/EPP) noted "this is an example case for future cooperation with the European Parliament."
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