Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – MEPs voiced deep concerns regarding the increasing intensity and frequency of severe EU and global weather circumstances, including large-scale floods, heatwaves, and wildfires.
In the European Parliament a resolution on the devastating floods in Austria, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, was consented to on 19 September 2024 by show of hands. MEPs voiced dissatisfaction with recent budget slashes to the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism.
What are MEPs’ main concerns about EU weather disaster response?
MEPs call for adequate and upgraded funding to improve preparedness and improve capacity building, with a special view to the next multi-annual EU budget. They also urged the EU Solidarity Fund to be
“commensurate to the increasing number and severity of natural disasters in Europe”,
insisted the EU Commission accelerate the mobilisation of grants to affected countries and ask for other technical and financial backing, such as cohesion policy instruments, to be made available.
In the long term, the EP resolution calls for more EU investment in regional and local resilience and requires the future EU cohesion policy to concentrate even more on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
How can future EU budgets better support climate change adaptation?
Furthermore, MEPs urged the European Commission to propose a European Climate Adaptation Plan quickly, including substantial legislative proposals, as announced in President von der Leyen’s political policies for the 2024-2029 Commission, to support EU resilience, adapt to the impacts of climate change, and harmonise national actions on preparedness, planning and cross-border collaboration. They also emphasised the need for urgent investment in flood management and flood risk prevention efforts.
In the past 30 years alone, floods in Europe have impacted 5.5 million people, taking nearly 3,000 lives and generating more than EUR 170 billion in economic damage. The summer of 2024 was the most burning on record globally and in Europe.
