Ursula von der Leyen flies with Giorgia Meloni in a helicopter over the areas affected by the floods in Romagna and discusses the measures that the EU will actually be able to adopt with the Italian premier, but she also wanted to touch the reality and the people deeply marked by the force of water .
The president of the European Commission arrived in Cesena , together with the minister Raffaele Fitto, the president of the Region Stefano Bonaccini and the head of the civil protection department Fabrizio Curcio and immediately asked the mayor Enzo Lattuca to get into the car with her, to explain in detail what happened last week.
The Savio was the first major river in the area to overflow its banks, on the afternoon of 16 May. And von der Leyen went right to the San Rocco area, where the water had flooded a neighborhood, and stopped with the residents, who have been shoveling mud for days. «You did very well. I know you haven't slept for a few nights. Incredible what you have managed to do», she said, addressing the volunteers personally, appealing to them as "angels in the mud".
She then moved to Piazza del Popolo , where she was welcomed by dozens of law enforcement and rescue workers and as many volunteers, including the 70 municipal employees who worked day and night to manage emergencies, and the staff of the Protection civil French, Slovakian, Slovenian, as well as hundreds of citizens who sang "Romagna Mia".
«It was hard, it broke my heart to see the mud - she said before leaving - but I was impressed by the courage and reaction of these people after days of great suffering. I came here to tell you: 'tin bota'». That is, in the Romagna dialect, hold on.
THE MEASURES – "For many farmers it was a disaster, for this reason the emergency fund for agriculture must be activated, that is the first point", the president of the Commission made clear. There are also the Cohesion Funds to draw on and, "if we look to the future, in the Next Generation Eu we have 6 billion euros for the prevention of floods and earthquakes, and the strengthening of infrastructures". And then there is the long-awaited EU Solidarity Fund , defined by President von der Leyen herself as "the most appropriate means of giving support".
However, what is already impressive is "European solidarity at its best". First of all, the reference is to the activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism : "Nine countries brought immediate assistance" - France, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland and Romania - with the French teams, Slovenian and Slovakian women who have already arrived on the field "with more than a hundred people to put the pumps into operation". As announced by the Directorate General of the EU Commission for Civil Protection and European humanitarian aid operations, the quantity of water pumped from the flooded land is equal to 133 Olympic swimming pools , "and the pumping operations continue".
(Unioneonline/D)
