EU BUDGET: INSTITUTIONS PAVE THE WAY FOR FLOOD SOLIDARITY FUND.

As promised this Summer, following the catastrophic floods which hit several European countries, the European Commission formally presented on September 11 the budgetary measures needed to set up, by the end of September, a European Union Solidarity Fund which will be capable of delivering swift help in the wake of major disasters in Member States or prospective members that are in the process of negotiating accession. The European Commission first proposed a Supplementary and Amending Budget for 2002, allowing for a sum of Euro 500 million to be paid into the fund this year (the maximum annual amount which can be raised, according to the Commission's proposal is Euro 1 billion). One quarter of the annual total is to be held in reserve until October 1 each year.

The Commission also approved a draft Inter-Institutional Agreement between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission for the creation of the Fund. This initiative requires the agreement of the two arms of the budgetary...