Central and Eastern European states affected by floods will be able to use ten billion euros (CZK 250 billion) from the EU cohesion fund, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said today in Wrocław. He wants affected countries to be able to use the money as quickly and easily as possible. According to Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who participated in the negotiations in Poland, the Czech Republic will receive two billion euros (50 billion CZK).
The head of the Commission noted at the press conference that the Union will mobilize money from the fund in an unusual way. Co-financing by member countries will not be necessary, as is common, but the aid will be fully paid for by the EU. “An extraordinary time has come, and an extraordinary time calls for extraordinary measures,” declared von der Leyen in Wrocław, which was just passing through a flood wave today.
Countries affected by natural disasters can also use funds from the European Solidarity Fund, which the Union established after the floods in Central Europe in 2002, to restore damaged infrastructure. the Cohesion Fund, which is normally used to help economically less developed regions of the twenty-seven countries, will serve.
According to von der Leyen, it will be possible to finance, for example, the restoration of highways, roads and bridges from the solidarity fund. It will then be possible to “flexibly draw finance for the reconstruction of the affected country” from the cohesion funds.
The server onet.pl wrote that Poland will receive five billion euros (125 billion CZK) from the aid package, and the Austrian prime minister said that 500 million euros (12.5 billion CZK) are earmarked for Austria. The Romanian newspaper Adevarul wrote that part of the aid should also go to Romania, which was also heavily affected by the floods. He did not specify how big. In her statement on X, von der Leyen also mentioned this Eastern European country, but the EC representation in the Czech Republic did not do so.
Fiala, who participated in today’s meeting together with the heads of the governments of Poland, Slovakia and Austria, Donald Tusk, Robert Fic and Karl Nehammer, praised the cooperation between the rescuers in the individual countries and also the preventive measures taken in the past, thanks to which, according to him, the damage after the floods is not so big as before.
“Now we need to fix the infrastructure and it would be difficult to do it from the national budgets, so I’m glad that Ursula von der Leyen came up with concrete solutions,” he pointed out. According to him, the Czech Republic will receive two billion euros from European funds.
The Czech Ministry of Finance expects to prepare an amendment to this year’s state budget due to the floods, in which the deficit will increase by 30 billion crowns. The expenses of the state budget for next year should also increase by ten billion crowns.
Polish Prime Minister Tusk also thanked the head of the Commission for the quick and non-bureaucratic help. “We needed exactly 45 minutes to come to an agreement… and get a satisfactory solution from the European Commission,” he said. “I don’t remember since the first time I visited a meeting at the EU level that such a short meeting would have brought such good results,” said the head of the Slovak government, Fico, who also spoke of “enormous help”.
Floods in Central European countries and Romania have claimed more than 20 lives and caused extensive material damage in recent days.
Source: www.tyden.cz
