Albares and the European Commission discuss support and reconstruction after DANA

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met this Monday in Brussels with the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, with whom he discussed the resources and instruments for supporting victims and rebuilding from the effects of the isolated depression at high levels (DANA), which has left at least 211 dead in the south and east of Spain. “I have discussed with Commissioner Janez Lenarcic and the Director General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission, Themis Christophidou, the resources and instruments for support and reconstruction due to the effects of DANA,” Albares said through his account on the social network X. Sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted by The Diplomat did not provide further details of the meeting. For his part, the Slovenian commissioner reported through the same social network that he had met with Albares to discuss “the unprecedented floods in Spain.” “I reiterated the EU's readiness to assist in the aftermath of this tragedy in full solidarity with the affected people and communities,” added Janez Lenarcic, who is also responsible for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid and European Emergency Response Coordinator. Likewise, Themis Christophidou expressed, also through X, the EU's “full solidarity” with those affected. “We are identifying the best response,” continued the Director General, who mentioned several suitable instruments for this, such as the EU Solidarity Fund and “the new Cohesion Policy flexibility toll” that “can provide precious support to people of Valencia region.” Later, in a debate in the European Parliament, the Vice-President of the European Commission for Institutional Relations, Maros Sefcovic, said: "On behalf of the European Commission, we will look at each of the options to alleviate the immediate crisis." Sefcovic mentioned both the European Civil Protection Mechanism - which, if Spain were to request its activation, would allow Brussels to coordinate the sending of rescue equipment and resources from other Member States to Spain - and the Solidarity Fund for catastrophes. He also mentioned, among the possibilities being examined, that of "prioritising" the disbursement of cohesion funds that are already available. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this past Saturday that the Executive is in communication with the European Commission and that the procedures have been initiated to request assistance from the European Solidarity Fund and the use of other community support resources from the European Union. The Solidarity Fund is the main instrument of the Union to support recovery from natural disasters and is an expression of the solidarity of the Union. It allows the Union to provide effective support to a Member State of the Union (or a candidate country) to help it cope with the effects of a serious natural disaster, such as floods, forest fires, earthquakes, storms or droughts. The disbursement of the Solidarity Fund requires a prior assessment of the damage and requires the support of the 27 Member States and the European Parliament, so it may take several months to become a reality. On the other hand, Spain has not yet activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism, the EU instrument for coordinating the sending of emergency aid to a Member State affected by a natural disaster. Last Wednesday, the European Commission offered Spain the possibility of activating the Civil Protection Mechanism to deal with the devastation caused by DANA and the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed her solidarity with the victims and highlighted the support of the EU, which launched the Copernicus satellites to facilitate rescue work and damage assessment. José Manuel Albares had planned a meeting in Brussels on Monday with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and other MEPs to try to revive Spain's request for the use of Catalan, Basque and Galician to be authorised in the plenary sessions of the European Parliament, but he finally cancelled these meetings to meet with Janez Lenarcic and Themis Christophidou.

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