It took two further years without action and specifically, the serious floods that took place in August in Germany, Austria and in some candidate countries, to persuade the European Union to close a legislative loophole that was preventing the Community institutions from intervening in terms of providing financial assistance for the European communities that have suffered major natural disasters, a scourge that appears to be taking place with increasing frequency.
Il a fallu encore attendre deux années de vide et, surtout, les graves inondations du mois d’août en Allemagne, en Autriche et dans certains pays candidats à l’adhésion, pour que l’Union européenne comble une lacune législative qui ne permettait pas aux institutions communautaires d’intervenir en termes d’aide financière aux populations européennes victimes de catastrophes naturelles de grande envergure, un fléau qui semble devenir de plus en plus fréquent.