European Union Solidarity Fund Annual Report 2011

Abstract

Article 12 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 of 11 November 2002 establishing the European Union Solidarity Fund (hereinafter "the Regulation") provides that a report on the activity of the Fund in the previous year be presented to the European Parliament and to the Council. The present report presents the activities of the Fund in 2011 covering, as in previous reports, the treatment of pending and new applications and the assessment of implementation reports with a view to preparing these for closure. In terms of the number of applications, 2011 was a quieter year. Only four applications for Solidarity Fund aid were made in the course of the year, while in 2010 a total of 17 applications had been presented. As some of these applications were received late in 2010, their assessment continued into 2011. They concerned applications from France (Var flooding), Czech Republic (autumn flooding), Germany (Sachsen flooding), Croatia and Slovenia (September flooding) and Hungary (red sludge spill). The assessment of these cases was completed during 2011 and is described in this report. The four cases received in 2011 concerned two applications from Italy (Veneto flooding, Liguria and Tuscany flooding), from Spain (Lorca earthquake) and from Cyprus (naval base explosion). In the course of 2011, the Commission completed its assessment and accepted the applications from Italy (Veneto flooding) and Spain (Lorca earthquake). Decisions on the second Italian application (Liguria and Tuscany flooding) as well as on the application from Cyprus were taken by the Commission early in 2012. In 2011, the Commission granted Solidarity Fund aid for 11 disasters amounting to a total of EUR 239,9 million and proposed further aid amounting to EUR 38 million for two more cases.