During the first hours of Irma and Maria, the devastating hurricanes that hit the Caribbean last September, the European Union expressed its solidarity by mobilising its emergency response instruments and offering to provide European funds to help rebuild in the long term. Today, the Commission has decided to allocate an advance payment of nearly EUR 5 million to the outermost regions of Saint-Martin and Guadeloupe under the EU Solidarity Fund, to help restore infrastructure and public services
- 13 December 2017
During the first hours of Irma and Maria, the devastating hurricanes that hit the Caribbean last September, the European Union expressed its solidarity by mobilising its emergency response instruments and offering to provide European funds to help rebuild in the long term. Today, the Commission has decided to allocate an advance payment of nearly EUR 5 million to the outermost regions of Saint-Martin and Guadeloupe under the EU Solidarity Fund, to help restore infrastructure and public services and to cover emergency expenditure and clean-up costs. The advance was calculated on the basis of a preliminary analysis of the request made by the French authorities on 27 November. Once the analysis is completed, the Commission will propose a final amount of aid to be decided by the European Parliament and the Council. The Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Creţu, explained: "With this initial help, Europe stands alongside the people of Saint-Martin and Guadeloupe to help them restore and rebuild. We are ready to activate all long-term support mechanisms with European funds, such as exceptional 95% co-financing in the event of a natural disaster, and we are currently looking into how to help Saint-Martin and Sint Maarten recover together within the framework of the European territorial cooperation programmes." The statement by Commissioner Creţu given at the time of receiving the aid request from the French authorities under the Solidarity Fund can be found here.