Resolution on the situation in Italy after the earthquakes

2016/2988(RSP)

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the situation in Italy after the earthquakes.

The text adopted was tabled by the EPP, S&D, ECR, ALDE, GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA and EFDD groups.

Members recalled that after the devastating earthquake that hit central Italy on 24 August 2016, three more major quakes, together with a flurry of tremors, struck the central Italian regions, on 26 October 2016. The most recent earthquake on 30 October 2016 was the strongest tremor to hit the country in more than three decades, involving the total flattening of entire villages. In the recent quakes more than 400 people are reported to have been injured and 290 to have died.

Expressing its deepest solidarity and empathy with all the individuals affected by the earthquakes, Parliament called on the Commission to identify all possible ways of providing help to the Italian authorities with a view to guaranteeing decent living conditions for the people deprived of their homes.

Members welcomed the increased level of flexibility in the deficit calculation on spending related to the earthquakes that has been granted to Italy in order to cope with the current emergency.

In light of this exceptional and very serious situation, Parliament asked the Commission to consider having sustainable reconstruction and any anti-seismic investments, including those co-financed through the European Structural and Investment Funds, excluded from the calculation of national deficits in the framework of the Stability and Growth Pact.

The resolution took note of the application presented for the European Solidarity Fund by the Italian Government and called on the Commission to undertake all necessary measures to analyse requests for assistance under the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) promptly. It stressed in this context the importance of advance payments being made available as soon as possible to the national authorities to enable them to respond to the urgent demands of the situation.

Parliament stressed:

  • the importance of creating synergies among all available instruments, including the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds), and of ensuring that resources are used effectively for reconstruction activities and all other necessary interventions, in full cooperation with the Italian national and regional authorities;
  • the possibility of using the European Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) to sustain the rural areas and agricultural activities that have been impacted by the earthquakes;
  • the importance of optimising the use of existing EU funding to invest in preventing natural disasters and of guaranteeing the consolidation and long-term sustainable development of reconstruction projects.

The resolution also called for:

  • the extension of the existing calculation of the Solidarity Fund; the partial ‘budgetisation’ of the annual EUSF financial allocation provided for in the proposed Omnibus Regulation could help in the future to accelerate the mobilisation procedure with a view to providing an earlier and more effective response to people affected by a disaster;
  • the speeding up research with a view to preventing damage, managing crises and minimising the scale of the impact of disasters in conjunction with actions under Horizon 2020;
  • the further simplification of the procedures for the activation of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism in order to make it available rapidly and effectively in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

Lastly, national, regional and local authorities are urged to step up efforts to make structures compliant with the earthquake standards in force and to pay due attention to this when issuing building permits.