European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has promised to allocate additional funds to help rebuild the devastated Emilia-Romagna region.
advertisementEight months after floods hit Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, causing widespread damage and killing 15 people, the president of the European Commission announced a €1.2 billion aid package to help the region recover. announced.
Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement during a visit to the region with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, ending the visit in Forli, one of the worst-hit cities.
Von der Leyen blamed climate change for the severe and devastating flooding that followed months of extreme drought and stressed the need for prevention.
The allocation was made available after Italy and the EU negotiated amendments to the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PNRR), Italy’s version of the Next Generation EU plan.
”In addition to the PNRR, there is also the Agricultural Fund. Farmers in Emilia-Romagna are particularly affected. So we provided them with 60 million euros from the Agricultural Emergency Reserve.” von der Leyen said in her speech.
In November 2023, Italy received an advance of €95 million in aid from the EU Solidarity Fund to support the response to the emergency, cleanup and recovery efforts.
Prime Minister Meloni then announced that Prime Minister von der Leyen would attend the Italia-Africa Conference, which will bring together African leaders, in Rome on Sunday, January 28th.