Von der Leyen on Wednesday in Forli with Meloni. Focus on post-flood European funds

Brussels – First Davos, then Strasbourg, then Italy again. This week’s packed agenda includes Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, returning to Emilia Romagna, one of the places symbolic of the devastating floods that hit central Italy last May.

Von der Leyen, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, will be in Forli, “a city touched by the floods that hit the Emilia-Romagna region last year,” along with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. This was announced during the press briefing by the chief spokesman of the EU executive, Eric Mamer, specifying that a “press conference will be scheduled in the afternoon.” A meeting to discuss European funds for areas affected by the floods, which will also be attended by the region’s governor, Stefano Bonaccini, and the minister for European Affairs, the South and the NRRP, Raffaele Fitto.

Rome’s government presented a support application through the European Solidarity Fund, in Brussels on July 24 to help restore key infrastructure, finance rescue services and general cleanup operations, and implement measures to protect the region’s cultural heritage. In November the European Commission decided to grant Italy an advance of €94.7 million from the European Solidarity Fund to alleviate the financial burden caused by the natural disaster.

The Solidarity Fund is an off-budget facility that allows up to €500 million to be mobilized annually—in addition to unspent funds from the previous year—to cover part of the cost of reconstruction. Member states affected by natural disasters can request its activation from the Commission within 12 weeks of the date of the first damage detected, attaching an estimate of the damage to the application. This provision allows for emergency interventions such as the “immediate restoration of infrastructure functioning in the energy, telecommunications, transport, health, and education sectors.” Since its activation in 2002 almost one-third of the total 8.2 billion euros—about 3 billion—have been allocated to Italy, almost double the second-largest recipient, Germany, with 1.6 billion.