EU Solidarity Fund
The EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF) is the Union's main instrument for channelling European solidarity to regions of Europe suffering from a disaster.
The EUSF was established in 2002 and has since been used for almost 100 natural disasters of various kinds: floods, forest fires, earthquakes, storms, droughts and, since the extension of its scope in 2020, also serious public health emergencies. It is not, in any case, a mechanism for rapid response to specific natural emergencies, for which the Emergency Aid Reserve is involved.
In accordance with Community law, the Union may grant financial assistance to any Member State or candidate country that requests it within 12 weeks of a disaster and following the assessment and proposal of the amount of financial assistance by the European Commission. The EUSF's intervention is implemented through a grant supplementing the public expenditure of the beneficiary State.
The EUSF's support is aimed at financing essential emergency and recovery measures to mitigate uninsurable damage. Urgent measures eligible for funding from the EUSF include: those aimed at the immediate restoration of the functioning of the essential infrastructure and facilities (energy, drinking water, waste water disposal, telecommunications, transport, health and education), the provision of temporary accommodation and relief services, the protection of cultural heritage, the clean-up of disaster areas, as well as rapid assistance to the population affected by a serious public health emergency and the risk of protecting the public.
Spain has benefited from the EU Solidarity Fund since a number of disasters.
- Prestige crisis (November 2002): 8.6 M€
- Forest fire at the Spain-Portugal border (August 2003): €1.3 M
- Lorca earthquake (May 2011): €21.1 M
- Incendio forestal en el noroeste de la península (octubre 2017): 3,2 M€
- DANA (November 2019): €56.7 M
- COVID-19 (June 2020): €57 M
- La Palma Volcano (December 2022): €9.5 M