Heavy flooding in Albania

7.12.2017

Question for written answer P-007558-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso (PPE)

The recent torrential rainfall in Albania has virtually brought the country to a standstill. Over 300 homes have been destroyed by severe flooding and some 125 000 have had their electricity supply cut off, forcing thousands of people to move.

In 2015, flooding on a similar scale had already wreaked havoc so that Albania required emergency international assistance. Through its Civil Protection Mechanism, the EU contributed by providing relief supplies worth EUR 118 000. On this occasion, has the Commission received requests from the Albanian authorities to contribute to relief work? If so, what assistance does it intend to provide?

Likewise, after the events of 2015, the EU carried out an evaluation within the framework of the EU Floods Protection Infrastructure Project.

It concluded that the magnitude of the disaster was due not only to the torrential rainfall, but also to the lack of appropriate methods of river basin management and studies on land use.

What progress has been made since then in relation to this factor and to what extent does the Commission estimate that the aforementioned Project has contributed to preventing greater damage in this recent disaster?