Although Romania might have requested EU assistance immediately due to the recent floods problems, the government didn’t activate the civil protection mechanism for emergency situations that would have allowed it to receive useful equipment and specialists.

The EU Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection has a Monitoring Information Centre that can offer support in case of natural disasters. Poland and Hungary are just two examples that Romania should have followed. In spring these two countries requested EU assistance to pass over the problems caused by floods.

Romania asked for help too late. If the offers from Belgium, Austria, France, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria would have been requested and accepted earlier maybe Romanians would have dealt better with the difficulties. But the truth is ugly: evil is already done. Floods have affected regions from more than 20 counties and 22 people died because of the torrents. Romania's wheat harvest will be 10% below estimates and material damage is enormous.

The only firm and fast arrangement was made by the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, who asked the European Commission to allocate funds within the National Rural Development Programme for the reconstruction of rural infrastructure affected by floods.

Another Romanian system problem rises when the government speaks about the lack of house insurances. But the insurance companies won’t assume responsibility for buildings with high risk of flooding. Those areas could only be insured within the national plan against disasters. But as we see, Romania still doesn’t have it functional.

Diana-Adela Ionita / La Specula.com