EU aid available, if Poland wants it: official
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
17.08.2017 14:53
The European Commission has said it is willing to help Poland deal with the aftermath of storms which wreaked havoc in the country’s north last weekend – if the country wants it.
Corina Cretu. Photo: Partidul Social Democrat/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Brussels’ regional policy chief Corina Cretu said that Warsaw, which is at loggerheads with Brussels on a number of issues, had not asked the European Union for support.
She added that the commission is ready to talk.
According to Poland's IAR news agency, Warsaw could receive aid from the EU Solidarity Fund, which was set up in 2002 to respond to major natural disasters.
The Solidarity Fund has paid out more than EUR 5 billion to 24 countries dealing with 76 disasters, including floods, forest fires, droughts and earthquakes.
Meanwhile, Poland’s State Forests on Wednesday announced that weekend storms caused more than PLN 1 million worth of damage to 45,000 hectares of woodland.
The storms also killed six people, injured about 50 and damaged the roofs of some 4,000 buildings, including nearly 3,000 homes. (vb/pk)
Source: PAP, IAR