EU budget: Council agrees to €454.8 million in disaster relief aid for Romania, Italy and Türkiye

Brussels: The Council on Monday agreed to the Commission’s proposal to provide a total of €454.8 million in disaster relief aid to Romania and Italy, to repair damage inflicted by natural disasters in 2022, and to Türkiye, in relation to the earthquakes in February 2023. The assistance will come from the EU’s 2023 budget.

In practice, the EU will transfer money from the solidarity and emergency aid reserve in its 2023 budget to the so-called EU Solidarity Fund operational budget line, from where it can be paid to the countries that have applied for financial assistance from this fund after being struck by natural disasters.

The EU Solidarity Fund is designed to provide financial assistance in the event of a major disaster in a member state or a country holding accession negotiations with the EU.

The aid will be distributed as follows: €33.9 million to provide assistance to Romania further to a severe and broad drought with three main peaks, respectively, at the end of March, in mid-April and in July-August 2022

€20.9 million to provide assistance to Italy further to the intense rainfall resulting in fluvial and flash flood events affecting the central Italian regions in September 2022

€400 million to provide assistance to Türkiye further to the major earthquakes affecting southern Türkiye in the region of Kahramanmaraş and the region of Hatay in February 2023