The caretaker cabinet will approve, at its regular sitting next Wednesday, emergency aid for disaster-stricken Mizia municipality in Northwestern Bulgaria after it was inundated on August 2 this year, amounting to BGN 1 million (EUR 500,000). The news was announced by Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki after the first extraordinary sitting of the new members of the Government Commission for Recovery and Assistance, chaired by caretaker Interior Minister Yordan Bakalov.

Almost a fortnight after the big flood, part of the town is still underwater, more than 100 houses have collapsed, many others are certain to collapse or are in need of major repair and new furnishing. Hundreds of people have been left literally out in the street, without a roof over their heads, without water, food or clothing. The money from this emergency aid will cover the costs already incurred for drainage and for cleaning up the town, for transporting the garbage and destroying the corpses of dead animals. In the words of the caretaker Premier, alongside this money, the government will also allocate additional assistance for emergency disaster recovery work and for the people from the municipalities of Varna, Dobrich, Veliko Turnovo and municipalities in the Rhodopes, affected by flooding earlier this year.

“At this point in time, in view of the situation in Mizia we have approved the advance payment of BGN 1 million (EUR 500,000) for meeting the first urgent needs and covering the payments already made,” caretaker Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki said. “This is the first thing we shall do. Additional money is yet to be allocated, when the damage has been assessed. There is a proposal made by the previous government, though it has not been put down as a Council of Ministers’ decree, for a little over BGN 15 million (EUR 7.5 million). This means a proposal for granting a total of over BGN 16 million (EUR 8 million) will be officially submitted by the Commission to the Council of Ministers for approval.”

The last in the series of municipalities afflicted by flooding this summer, Mizia will also have to meet another urgent need – that of providing and designing a platform for trailers for some 150 people who have been left without a roof over their heads, as well as food, partial repairs of the school and kindergarten buildings, Minister Yordan Bakalov said. In his words, “after summer comes winter, that is why the message we want to convey with this assistance is to help these people make it through the coming season,” he said and added:

“This is a message to the people living in Mizia municipality that as a government we will not abandon them and will do what we can to help them. There are limits to what we can do, but it is enough to give people some breathing space.”

Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki added that the municipalities affected by the previous floods at the end of June in Northeastern Bulgaria – Varna and Dobrich – have already submitted application forms for assistance from the European Union Solidarity Fund. It was set up to assist disaster stricken regions and EU countries and amounts to EUR 500 million. Eligibility for this assistance is recognized if damages exceed 0.6 percent of the national GDP, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid & Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva said during her visit to Mizia municipality a few days ago. She noted that another damages threshold was introduced recently amounting to 1.5 percent of the regional gross product - for the Northwestern region of Bulgaria this sum amounts to EUR 41 million. “The damage assessment there is yet to be done and one of the tasks now is to fill out the application papers quickly so the assistance from the EU may be effective,” Prime Minister Bliznashki stressed. For Radio Bulgaria he specified that application must be by regions and accumulation of damages in our case is not admissible. In his words, the presumption is that on the whole, we should cope by ourselves. "What is much more useful for Bulgaria is the idea, presented at the cabinet’s latest sitting by the Bulgarian EU Commissioner, of more tangible assistance under the Partnership Agreement, by means of a comprehensive prorgamme of damage compensation, as well as of preventing future risks in poor regions,” says Premier Bliznashki:

“This means requesting an overall review of all risks and threats resulting from natural calamities, so as to draw on the experience of the other EU countries. This takes place via a joint committee, comprising Bulgarian and foreign experts. Two of the member countries have already availed themselves of this opportunity. And this is a prerequisite for gaining the EU’s trust so that in future, if such events occur the reaction may be swifter. This is a good idea and we shall take advantage of it. The caretaker cabinet will submit a proposal to the European Commission for drawing on the experience of other countries. This would not involve any additional funding by Bulgaria. But I think the idea is very valuable.”

English: Milena Daynova