Question 8823 — European Union

Summary

The European Union has several mechanisms for preventing and responding to natural disasters, including the European Civil Protection Mechanism and the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF). Via the European Civil Protection Mechanism, which strengthens cooperation between Member States of the European Union and six participating third States in the field of civil protection, the Member States of the European Union provided logistical support for humanitarian relief, and made civil protection experts and material aid available to affected countries and territories in the Caribbean. More recently, France sent 40 firefighters to fight forest fires in the Amazon, at the request of Bolivia and on its territory, still within the framework of the European civil protection mechanism. The European Union has also provided support via the EUSF, which was set up to deal with major natural disasters and to express the solidarity of the European Union with the affected regions. The European Commission thus decided, at the end of 2017, to grant 48.9 million euros to France to deal with the consequences of the passage of hurricanes Irma and Maria in Saint-Martin and Guadeloupe. The payment of the aid granted has been validated, following the agreement of the Council and the European Parliament in July 2018. This financial support makes it possible to cover certain expenses incurred by France to deal with the emergency and the first stages of reconstruction. Concerning the budget allocated to the EUSF, it is currently being discussed, like that of the other special instruments, as part of the negotiations relating to the next multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027. There The European Commission's initial proposal is a slight increase since it proposes to allocate 600 million euros (2018 prices) per year to the EUSF – compared to 574 million euros (2018 prices) for the period 2014-2020. It must be kept in mind that the mobilization of the FSUE is done at the request of a Member State, according to precise criteria, and after validation by the European Commission. The amounts proposed by the Commission are then validated by the Council and by the European Parliament. The government will be vigilant to ensure that the resources dedicated to the prevention of natural disasters, but also to the reaction to their consequences, remain adapted and mobilized as quickly as possible.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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