In the event of a natural disaster or other catastrophe, the European Union must be ready with sufficient funds to help affected EU countries. This lesson is already being learned by the European Parliament from the floods currently causing great damage and misery in Central Europe.
High waters have submerged entire areas in Austria, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Infrastructure and homes have been swept away, and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee.
MEPs have grumbled about recent cuts to the EU disaster service. They want additional funding in the next multi-annual budget to increase disaster preparedness. They also want the EU Solidarity Fund to be 'proportionate to the increasing number and severity of natural disasters in Europe'.
In the past thirty years, at least 5.5 million EU citizens have been affected by natural disasters, resulting in 3,000 deaths and more than 170 billion euros in economic damage.
The increased number of natural disasters is strongly linked to global warming, according to many MEPs. This year, for example, another record was broken: the summer of 2024 was the warmest ever in the EU. This trend is expected to continue.
To cope with the future situation, there needs to be more EU investments in 'regional and local resilience' in the long term. Future EU policies should also focus more on climate change adaptation.
In a resolution adopted on Thursday on the devastating floods, MEPs express their dissatisfaction with recent cuts to the EU civil protection mechanism. They call for sufficient and improved funding to enhance preparedness and improve capacity building, in particular in view of the next EU multiannual budget.
The (new) European Commission must therefore quickly come up with a climate adaptation plan, according to the MEPs. This also includes conncfrete legislative proposals. This has already been more or less announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for the period 2024-2029.
PvdA MEP Mohsmmed Chahim says 'this is not the flood of the century, but the century of floods' and believes action is needed. 'We cannot leave these people behind. We cannot leave these farmers behind. We cannot afford to have these debates every year in response to disasters. It is time to take decisive action.' He calls for 'a resilient Europe' that can cope with the excesses of climate change.
Chahim's colleague Jeanette Baljeu (VVD) agrees. 'This disaster, just like the floods in the Netherlands in 2021 and the many forest fires in Southern Europe, are a painful reminder of how climate change increases the frequency and severity of natural disasters.'
She adds: 'The years of Dutch experience in the fight against water show that we can protect ourselves by making targeted investments in water management and making investments.'