In response to recent climate-related natural disasters, the European Commission has proposed amendments to key EU regulations, enabling a quicker and more flexible mobilisation of funds for post-disaster recovery efforts.
These changes include updates to the regulations governing the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), alongside adjustments to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) for the 2021-2027 programming period, and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).
This initiative comes in the wake of severe floods in Central and Eastern Europe, and wildfires in Portugal, which struck in September 2024. The proposed amendments will allow affected Member States – including Poland, Romania, Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Portugal, and Slovakia – to reprogramme approximately €18 billion from EU funds to support recovery from these disasters.
The proposal will ensure that the EU can flexibly support all Member States impacted by recent and potential future climate-related natural disasters.
How the new proposals work
These proposals provide Member States with additional flexibility to use:
- The ERDF to repair damaged infrastructure and equipment,
- The ESF+ to provide temporary support to food and/or basic material assistance without accompanying measures, healthcare to all affected by the disasters and the financing of short-time work schemes without activation measures.
Two key measures will strengthen the ESF+ in supporting Member States affected by natural disasters, provided they focus resources under a dedicated priority:
- Immediate liquidity injection: Member States will benefit from an additional pre-financing of 30%, providing immediate funds to relieve budgetary pressures and help tackle urgent needs following disasters.
- Full EU financing: The EU will cover up to 100% of the costs of measures supported under the ESF+ and ERDF, with no national co-financing required. This will ensure a rapid start to reconstruction and recovery efforts.
A maximum of 10% of the existing Cohesion Policy funds earmarked for Member States for the 2021–2027 programming period may be used to deliver on these objectives, allowing for transfers between Cohesion Policy funds.
Next Steps
The proposal will now go through the ordinary legislative procedure in the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
In line with the principle of shared management, after adoption, Member States will have to decide how best to make use of these flexibilities, how much funding to mobilise to deal with recent disasters, while taking into account their specific needs. Member States will then be required to submit programme amendments to the European Commission for review and adoption within 4 months of entry into force of the regulation or the date of the natural disaster (whichever is latest).
The proposed measures will ensure that the efforts increase the economic, infrastructure and social resilience, promote climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness in the future.