Increase in cyclical weather events triggered by climate change, and damage to local economies
12.4.2021
Question for written answer E-001949/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Paolo Borchia (ID)
The regions may request that the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) established under Regulation (EU) No 661/2014 be applied in the event of major natural disasters.
The EUSF can only be mobilised, upon application by the country affected, if the direct damage exceeds 1.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the region concerned.
The regulation provides for a derogation in respect of outermost regions within the meaning of Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, for which the threshold is 1%.
In recent years, unforeseeable weather events have intensified and new violent types of weather phenomena have occurred, such as the frosts experienced in March and April in the Veneto which jeopardised entire crops of typical products such as apricots, kiwi fruit and cherries. Can the Commission therefore answer the following questions:
- 1.Is it possible, within the temporary framework for supporting the economy in connection with COVID-19, for the rules to be modified to allow the application of the minimum thresholds set for the outermost regions to be extended to all European regions?
- 2.Does the Commission plan, in recognition of the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector, to adopt economic safeguard measures for local economies that cyclically suffer damage to crops which is enormous, but nonetheless insufficient to meet the applicable thresholds?