European Parliament to vote in July on 1.9M euro flood aid for Bulgaria
The European Parliament will vote in July on granting more than 1.9 million euro to Bulgaria to help recovery after the July-August 2014 floods.
The aid, from the European Solidarity Fund, already has been approved by the European Council and on June 23 was approved by the European Parliament’s budget committee.
The total direct damage in Bulgaria added up to about 79.3 million euro in Bulgaria. The country’s government already has approved spending to assist in recovery in various places hard-hit by the 2014 summer floods including the town of Mizia.
The EU funding heading for the final stage of approval is the first mobilisation decision of 2015.
The assistance of Bulgaria is part of a vote on a total of 66.5 million euro, of which 56 million will go to Italy to help it recovery from the autumn 2014 floods, and 8.49 million euro will go to Romania to deal with the aftermath of that country’s spring and summer floods.
The European Solidarity Fund aid will help the three countries to repair damage done to public and private infrastructure, private homes, businesses, agriculture, the environment, and cultural heritage.
The European Solidarity Fund was set up in November 2002 to help victims of natural disasters in regions in need of financial support. The fund has a ceiling of 541.2 million euro for this year, to which an additional amount of 403.9 million euro unspent in 2014 may be added.
(Photo of Mizia, Bulgaria, on August 3 2014: Bulgarian Defence Ministry)
