SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Nov. 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The European Parliament’s Budget Committee has given its go-ahead this Thursday to grant aid of 9.5 million euros to Spain after the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary Island of La Palma in September 2021, which caused massive damage on the island, and of which the authorities already received an advance of 5.4 million in May.
The endorsement of the MEPs has been produced without votes against or abstentions but it still needs to be submitted to the full vote of the European Parliament, foreseeably in its session from December 12 to 15 in Strasbourg (France), before the formalization of the approval.
Spain, which already received an advance of 5.39 million euros in May, estimated total damages of more than one billion euros (equivalent to 2.19% of the GDP of the Canary Islands) due to the eruption.
The island of La Palma suffered the eruptions of the Cumbre Vieja volcano between September 19 and December 15, 2021, a period during which it devastated an area of some 1,200 hectares and caused damage, especially to network infrastructure, homes and buildings and in the agricultural sector. The Spanish authorities estimated a total direct damage of 862.7 million euros.
Support for the Spanish authorities to meet the costs of the emergency response after the disaster is part of a broader aid package from the European Union Solidarity Fund, totaling 718 million euros for seven Member States with financing needs to cover the first attention and repair of infrastructures after catastrophes such as floods or fires.
The Solidarity Fund was established after the floods in Central Europe in the summer of 2002, with the aim of assisting countries in emergency and recovery tasks after natural disasters. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, its scope of application was extended in April 2020 to cover serious public health emergencies.
Since its creation, it has been used to help 28 European countries with more than 7 billion euros. Spain has received aid for the Prestige accident, forest fires and the Lorca earthquake in 2011, among other disasters.
