The Government of Italy announced on Tuesday an aid of “more than two billion euros” for the region of Emilia-Romagna, in the northeast of the country, affected by unprecedented floods that caused 14 deaths and serious material damage.
“We have made available, with these first measures, a total of more than two billion euros for people affected by the floods,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told reporters at the end of a council of ministers.
“We know very well that we are talking about emergencies, that there will be a reconstruction phase, but at the moment we are not in a position to fully quantify the needs,” added Meloni.
Nearly 700 million will be allocated, in particular, to companies, mainly exporters, and 580 million to the technical strike of the respective workers.
“In the current situation in Italy, raising two billion in a few days is not easy,” stressed the head of the Executive, whose country is the second most indebted member state in the Eurozone, after Greece.
Among the additional sources of income found to obtain these two billion euros, are the temporary increase of one euro in the price of tickets to museums and the use of funds from the national lottery.
Six months of rain fell in just 36 hours last week in Italy, causing around 20 rivers to burst their banks, turning streets into marshes and submerging vast tracts of farmland and livestock.
Source: TSF
