The fragility of the Italian territory (is there anyone who still ignores it?) has been highlighted again by a few hours of rain. In the provinces of Caserta and Avellino this time, where people are fed up with promises to clean riverbeds, sewers and streams. After all, this is how things go on all over Italy. Two missing, hundreds of thousands of euros in damages and yet another declaration of natural disaster. Will there come a time when the country will realize that the climate outpaces any law or bureaucracy in causing tragedies? For once, the government in office has only a part to do with it.
It happens, however, that these tragedies sometimes mix with good news. It is clear that we would like to have only the latter and never the former. The news that the European Commission has requested 1 billion of euros for Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Greece and France to heal the wounds of the 2023 floods goes in the direction that every citizen of risk areas expects. From the funds provided to Italy, 378,8 million would go, in particular to Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. The money is from the Fsue Emergency Fund and is used to rebuild damaged structures and buildings.
“The Fund is a specific instrument to help Member States recover after major, devastating natural disasters, in solidarity with those affected,” he said. Elizabeth Ferreira, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms.
It will be up to the countries that will receive the money to plan resilient works and compatible with everything related to climate change. The financing proposal follows requests for assistance from the countries concerned. It must be approved by the Parliament and the Council. Then we will see the timescales of use in practice.
Since its establishment in 2002 – a note from the Commission recalls – the FSU has mobilised over 8,6 billion euros for 130 disasters (110 natural disasters and 20 health emergencies) in 24 Member States plus four candidate countries for accession (Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey). These numbers remind us of the need to care for the territories and invest in prevention in order to survive extreme events. Almost like an industrial project.
