Proposal amending Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 in order to provide financial assistance to Member States to cover serious financial burden inflicted on them

Summary:

Proposal presented on 4 September 2019 by the European Commission aiming to extend the scope of the European Union Solidarity Fund in the context of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union without an agreement.

Further information:

The European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) was created in 2002 to support EU Member States and accession countries in situations of major disasters caused by natural events such as floods, storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, forest fires or drought. The Fund can be mobilised upon an application from the concerned country if the disaster event has a dimension justifying intervention at European level. Its functioning is a tangible expression of a genuine EU solidarity, whereby Member States agree to support each other by making additional financial resources available through the EU budget.

Despite the measures already taken or planned, it is fair to assume that due to the particularly close economic and trading relationship with the United Kingdom, some Member States will be more impacted by the event of withdrawal without an agreement than others. Even if it is extremely difficult to assess it exactly, it will have a significant impact on the economy, the labour market and the public finances, especially in the short term. While it will be a singular event, its disruptive effects and the burden thereof on public finances could constitute a major disaster and therefore the activation of the “solidarity principle”, which is the core of the EUSF, would be justified in order to mitigate those effects.