Central European countries affected by floods will be able to draw 10 billion euros from EU cohesion funds, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in Wroclaw yesterday. According to Czech PM Petr Fiala, the Czech Republic will receive 2 billion euros.
Von der Leyen said it was necessary to enable the affected states to use the money as quickly and easily as possible.
Fiala (ODS) was representing the Czech Republic at the meeting with von der Leyen and the prime ministers of Central European countries.
At the press conference, von der Leyen commented that the EU would mobilise the money from the Fund in an unusual way. It will not require co-financing from member states, as is usual, but the aid will be fully paid for by the EU.
“These are extraordinary times and extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” she said.
Countries hit by natural disasters can use the EU Solidarity Fund, set up by the EU after the 2002 floods in Central Europe, to rebuild their damaged infrastructure. “I know that the money is not sufficient,” von der Leyen admitted today, adding that the Cohesion Fund, which is normally used to help the less economically developed EU regions, will be used as an additional resource.
Fiala attended the meeting alongside Donald Tusk, Robert Fico and Karel Nehammer, the heads of government of Poland, Slovakia and Austria respectively. He praised the cooperation between the rescue services of each country, and the preventive measures taken recently, which he said had made the flood damage less severe than before.
“Now we need to repair the infrastructure, and it would be difficult to do this from national budgets, so I am glad that Ursula von der Leyen has come up with concrete solutions,” he said. The Czech Republic, according to Fiala, would receive 2 billion euros (around CZK 50 billion).
The Czech Finance Ministry is planning to prepare an amendment to this year’s state budget due to the floods, which will increase the deficit by CZK 30 billion. The state budget expenditure for next year should also increase by CZK 10 billion.
Polish PM Tusk also thanked the Commission chief for the rapid and non-bureaucratic assistance.
Slovak PM Fico said he could not remember such a short meeting bringing such good outcomes at the EU level, describing the help as huge.
The flooding has claimed more than 20 lives and caused extensive material damage in central European countries and Romania in recent days.
