Solidarity Fund: don't play with people's despair.

Commenting on the risk that the Solidarity Fund, allocated for the deadly earthquake this year in the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy (€670m), will not be paid following the blockage by the Council during the EU Budget negotiations, Joseph Daul MEP, Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, and Mario Mauro MEP, Head of the Italian Delegation (PDL) of the EPP Group, said:

"European integration - since the very beginning - was founded on solidarity, one of our most important values. This is why it is inconceivable that the Solidarity Fund - already decided this year to relieve the deadly damages caused by the earthquake in the Emilia-Romagna region - is being put at risk by the Council because of the negotiations on the EU Budget."

"We made a moral commitment back then. Now we have the moral obligation to respect what we promised and help the people who lost everything to the earthquake. We cannot play with people's despair. Those funds are crucial for the heavily-damaged economic system of the Emilia-Romagna region which is slowly recovering after the tragedy", concluded Joseph Daul and Mario Mauro.