Regional Emergency Support to Reconstruction - amending regulation proposal

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

RESTORE - Regional Emergency Support to Reconstruction amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 and Regulation (EU) 2021/1057

The recent natural disasters in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe have had a devastating effect on the populations living in these regions. Extensive reconstruction works will be required in many cities, towns and villages to repair damaged infrastructure and equipment and to build back better ensuring climate and disaster resilience in a cost-effective manner, in order to quickly alleviate the burden on local, regional and national budgets and mitigate the risk of agravated territorial disparities resulting from these disasters. Immediate measures will be needed to alleviate the social and economic consequences of such natural disasters. In addition, people directly affected by these natural disasters, who may have lost their homes and belongings may be in need of food and/or basic material assistance. Moreover, support to job maintenance may also be needed for businesses facing economic difficulties due to the occurrence of a natural disaster so that employees and self-employed are able to retain their job for the period where they were not able to access their usual place of employment. In order to tackle the devastating effect of natural disasters on people’s health, access to healthcare including for people who are not in imminent socio-economic vulnerability should also be allowed. Europe needs to be able to rapidly provide additional, effective support through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) to Member States, regions, local authorities and people severely affected by regional disasters, complementing the resources available from the European Union Solidarity Fund. An increase of the frequency of disasters needs to be anticipated. Therefore, building on the experience gained these past years, it is appropriate to provide for a framework that allows for flexibility and financial support in order to avoid recurrent changes in the cohesion policy legal framework and additional administrative burden, while preserving the long-term strategic nature of Cohesion policy.