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European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF)

The European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) provides financial assistance at the request of an EU Member State or accession country having faced a serious natural disaster or a major public health emergency.

What does it finance?

The EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF) may cover a part of the costs for emergency and recovery operations incurred by public authorities, excluding compensation for private losses. Support is limited to four eligible disaster types: major natural disasters, regional natural disasters, disasters in neighbouring countries, and major health emergencies. 

Possible eligible actions include :  

  1. restoring damaged infrastructure in the fields of energy, water and waste water, telecommunications, transport, health and education;
  2. providing temporary accommodation and funding rescue services for the population;
  3. securing preventive infrastructure and protecting cultural heritage;
  4. cleaning-up of disaster-stricken areas as well as immediate restoration of affected natural zones to avoid immediate effects from soil erosion;
  5. measures aiming at rapidly providing medical assistance to the population, including prevention, monitoring or control of the spread of diseases.  

The EUSF funding cannot be used for financing ‘building back better’ and resilience measures. The EUSF may only fund restoring infrastructure and plant to their condition prior to the occurrence of the natural disaster. 

What kind of funding does it provide?

The EUSF provides grants for national public authorities.  

To minimise the administrative burden on countries struggling with a serious disaster, there are no programming or national co-financing requirements. 

Which EU authorities are responsible for this instrument?

The Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO, European Commission) is responsible for the EUSF. Assistance from the EUSF is implemented under shared management in case of Member States and under indirect management in case of accession countries .  

Which countries are eligible?

EU Member States and accession countries.

Who is this call for?

The assistance from the EUSF can only be activated at the request of EU Member States or accession country authorities can seek help from the EUSF. Individual citizens, private companies, and organisations within the affected country cannot submit applications.  

How to apply and other relevant information

For information on how to apply, please check the call specific page:  

Programme website: Inforegio - EU Solidarity Fund  

The application for assistance has to be submitted to the Commission no later than 12 weeks after the first occurrence of damage as a consequence of a natural disaster. Financial aid is determined based on the total direct damage from a disaster in relation to affected country’s or region’s wealth. The payment would cover a share of total costs from disaster. 

Project examples

In August 2023, Slovenia was hit by its worst floods on record, affecting two-thirds of the country and causing over EUR 7.3 billion in damage. President von der Leyen visited the disaster affected areas in person to express the EU’s solidarity with Slovenia. In the aftermath of the disaster, the EU Solidarity Fund provided EUR 428 million of vital financial assistance for post-disaster recovery - a tangible sign of European solidarity. Less than two years later, over 88% of the funding has already been deployed on the ground, helping to rebuild critical infrastructure and restore normal life in affected regions.  

Croatia suffered two series of devastating earthquakes. The first in March 2020 hit the city of Zagreb and its surroundings, and the second in December 2020 – January 2021, mostly hit the city of Petrinja and the Sisak-Moslavina county. The combined damage of the two series of earthquakes is estimated at more than EUR 17 billion, and 26,000 buildings were damaged. Croatia’s recovery was supported by a total of €1 billion from the EUSF, which was granted in two tranches in 2020 and 2021. Croatia invested in the reconstruction of schools, universities, hospitals, and cultural heritage buildings. For example, the EUSF funded the reconstruction of the Zagreb Cathedral, the Merkur Clinical and Sisters of Charity hospitals, several faculties at the University of Zagreb, the Dr Ivan Merz primary school in Zagreb and the container settlements that were set up in the Sisak Moslavina county to provide temporary housing.