Call: European Union Solidarity Fund

At the request of a Member State or country involved in accession negotiations with the European Union, assistance from this fund may be mobilised when a major natural disaster with serious repercussions on living conditions, the natural environment or the economy occurs.

These general principles apply:

• In the event of a major disaster, there is only one single eligibility criterion - damage in excess of a threshold, specific for each country
• The EUSF can also intervene for smaller so-called 'extraordinary regional disasters' where the majority of the population of a region is affected, and if it is deemed that the disaster will have serious and lasting effects on its economic stability and living conditions
• The EUSF works primarily as a refinancing instrument for emergency operations following a disaster. Once the grant is paid out, it can re-finance certain types of emergency measures from day one of the disaster.

The aim of the Fund is to complement the efforts of the States concerned and to cover a share of their public expenditure in order to help the beneficiary State to carry out the following essential emergency operations, depending on the type of disaster:

• immediate restoration to working order of infrastructure and plant in the fields of energy, water and waste water, telecommunications, transport, health and education
• providing temporary accommodation and funding rescue services to meet the immediate needs of the population concerned
• immediate securing of preventive infrastructures and measures of immediate protection of the cultural heritage
• immediate cleaning up of disaster-stricken areas, including natural zones

Payments from the Fund are in principle limited to finance measures alleviating non insurable damages and shall be recovered if the cost of repairing the damage is subsequently met by a third party.

As soon as possible and no later than ten weeks after the first damage caused by the disaster, a State may submit an application for assistance from the Fund to the Commission. A grant shall be used within one year of the date on which the Commission has disbursed the grant.
Any part of a grant remaining unused by that deadline, in compliance with the terms of this Regulation, shall be recovered by the Commission from the beneficiary State.
Beneficiary States shall seek all possible compensation from third parties.

Major disasters
Accordingly, for major disasters, a progressive system in two steps is applied whereby a country affected by a disaster receives a lower rate of aid of 2.5% for the part of total direct damage below the “major disaster” threshold and a higher share of aid of 6% for the part of the damage exceeding the threshold. The two amounts are added up.

Regional disasters and “neighbouring country” disasters
For regional disasters and for countries applying for aid under the “neighbouring country” provision the same method is applied, meaning consequently that countries affected by those disasters, which by definition remain below the major disaster threshold, receive 2.5 % of total direct damage in aid.

The maximum aid amount for a given disaster may not exceed two thirds of the annual allocation of the Fund in a given year. Moreover, for a disaster accepted on the basis of the “neighbouring country” provision the aid amount may not exceed the amount of the aid for the country where the corresponding “major disaster” originated. E.g. capping in 2014: 354 Million €.

The grant is paid upfront in a single instalment. There is no programming, nor co-financing requirement.