Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – The Future of the European Union Solidarity Fund

The European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) was created in 2002 to provide the EU with an instrument which would allow responding effectively to major natural disasters affecting Member States or countries negotiating their accession to the EU. Previously, no such instrument existed for internal action.

Until the end of 2010 the Commission received 85 applications for financial assistance from 23 different countries: 27 of these applications fall within the category of "major natural disaster" which is the main field of application of the Fund. The Regulation defines major disasters as having caused damage exceeding a threshold specific to each country and defined as the lower of 0.6% of Gross National Income (GNI) or €3 billion in prices of 2002 which in 2011 corresponds to €3,536 billion.

Almost two thirds of all applications received since the creation of the Fund related however to the two exceptions laid down in the Regulation which allow mobilising the Fund even if damage remains below the threshold. 53 applications were presented as so-called "extraordinary regional disasters" and 4 under the criteria for disasters in a "neighbouring country".

In the latter case an eligible country affected by the same disaster as another eligible country where the occurrence of a major disaster has been accepted may also benefit from the Fund irrespective of the size of the damage.

Extraordinary regional disasters are defined as having affected the major part of the population in the region concerned and having serious and lasting repercussions on the living conditions and the economic stability of the region.

Overall, between the creation of the Solidarity Fund in 2002 and the end of 2010, 42 applications were approved with financial aid totalling more than €2.4 billion. During this period the Commission had to reject 35 requests for aid, all of which were presented as "extraordinary regional disasters" as they were found not to meet the exceptional criteria. Two applications were withdrawn by the applicant States once it had become clear that they would not be successful. At the end of December 2010 the decision on six applications was still pending.

As natural disasters within Europe have continued to grow both in size and frequency, the requests have concerned a variety of different types of natural disasters including storms, floods, mudslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruption, forest fires and drought, the most serious case being the 2009 earthquake at L'Aquila in Italy with over €10 billion damage and tens of thousands people made homeless where the Fund intervened with over €492 million, the highest grant paid out so far.

It has been widely recognised that the Solidarity Fund - judged against the purpose for which it was set up - is very successful. Assistance from the Fund has helped to alleviate the financial burden on disaster-stricken countries. Offering help and additional resources at times of particular hardship created a positive image for the Union in the eyes of its citizens. Nonetheless the experience gathered shows that there are limitations and weaknesses in the operation of the Fund.

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)613: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:613:FIN

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