2024-09-19 21:49 update: 2024-09-20, 15:12
Fot. PAP/Maciej Kulczyński
Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission (EC), has announced that nations impacted by the flood will have access to EUR 10 billion from the Cohesion Fund.
Von der Leyen attended a meeting in the southwestern city of Wroclaw on Thursday with the heads of Polish, Czech, Slovak and Austrian governments: Donald Tusk, Petr Fiala, Robert Fico, and Karl Nehammer, respectively.
During a press conference, she admitted that the scale of destruction was "heartbreaking."
"I am here to reassure you that Europe stands by your side," she said.
The head of the European Commission stated that the Solidarity Fund, which serves as the primary EU mechanism for aiding recovery from natural disasters, will not be enough given the scale of the disaster.
That is why, she said, in an "emergency reaction", the EC will mobilise around EUR 10 billion from the Cohesion Fund, which can be used flexibly by the affected countries.
Jan Grabiec, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, summarised "an immediate summit" organised by Tusk on the X platform.
"The result: EUR 10 billion (of which EUR 5 billion for Poland) from the Cohesion Fund on preferential terms to be used for post-flood reconstruction," he wrote. (PAP)
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