Gloucestershire Lib Dems fight for flood money in Brussels

4.30.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 14th May 2008

Graham with Lib Dem Leader on Gloucester County Council Jeremy Hilton, in Brussels

The Liberal Democrat Leader on Gloucestershire County Council Jeremy Hilton joined local MEP Graham Watson in Brussels this week to press for a swift conclusion of the negotiations on the EU flood relief money.

After meeting European Commission and British civil servants based in Brussels, Jeremy Hilton said:

"We are still concerned that the UK government might top-slice the funds and short-change the local authorities. We will keep a watchful eye on the central government to make sure that Gloucestershire gets its full entitlement for the damages caused by the last summer floods."

Graham Watson, Lib Dem MEP for the County commented,

"Jeremy Hilton is the only Council Leader from Gloucestershire who was here this week. Liberal Democrats are the only party which makes Europe work for Gloucestershire."

Editors note:-

Since last summer's flooding Graham Watson has pushed hard for the UK government to apply to the EU Solidarity Fund, which is intended to reimburse non-insured losses, such as emergency assistance and public infrastructure costs.

Graham has campaigned at the European Parliament for the application to be approved as quickly as possible. The Commission then approved £110m of funding to help with the costs of emergency recovery, which at the moment will only equate to a net payment of £31m. This is due to the 'abatement mechanism', with the EU, commonly known as the rebate, established by Margaret Thatcher in 1984.

Yesterday Graham Watson and Jeremy Hilton met with senior Commission officials and learned that Treasury chiefs in Whitehall have so far failed to even provide details of the bank account into which money should be paid.

Around 48,000 homes and 7,000 businesses were affected in the South West, the Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside in June and July last year. The European Union Solidarity Fund set up after the catastrophic flooding which hit Central Europe in summer 2002, is designed to provide fast, effective and flexible emergency financial aid to areas struck by natural disasters