Status: 16.01.2024, 16:57 PM
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Stephan Weil (SPD), Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, speaks at a press conference. © Michael Matthey/dpa
The flood situation has eased, the water levels are receding - now comes the time to repair the damage. Lower Saxony's state government has announced a high sum in the millions for this purpose.
Hanover - Lower Saxony's state government is launching an aid package of around 110 million euros because of the floods. This was announced by Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) and Finance Minister Gerald Heere (Greens) on Tuesday in Hanover.
The money is to be used to help flood victims, to repair damage to public infrastructure, to reimburse the deployment costs of the disaster control authorities and to upgrade flood and disaster control. "This supplementary budget is intended to show from the outset that we in Lower Saxony are capable of acting," said Minister-President Weil.
It is not yet possible to estimate how much money is actually needed as support for victims and how much should flow into investments, for example for further mobile dikes, it said.
According to the government, the state parliament could pass the supplementary budget as early as the beginning of February. The aid is to be financed from reserves. An exception to the debt brake is not necessary for this. "Our sound financial management enables us to provide this much-needed aid without net borrowing," said Finance Minister Heere.
At the beginning of January, the state government held out the prospect of emergency aid of up to ten million euros for private households particularly affected by the floods. This was intended to bridge emergencies in accommodation or the replacement of household goods quickly and unbureaucratically, for example. At the time, it was said that further aid needs should only be examined when the flooding was over and the damage could be realistically assessed. These ten million euros are included in the new aid package.
The opposition CDU had already demanded a supplementary budget of 100 million euros for the state to cope with the consequences of the floods almost a week ago. The CDU also called on the federal government to provide at least 100 million euros in further aid, as it was a national event in view of the floods in other federal states.
The CDU has now accused the state government of letting time pass unnecessarily. It is now important to enable the municipalities, the dike associations and the state itself to repair or replace damaged dikes, facilities and equipment, to replenish the equipment and material of disaster control and to restore flood protection as quickly and completely as possible, said CDU budget politician Ulf Thiele.
The floods had stretched over large parts of Lower Saxony for weeks around the turn of the year. It was only on Monday that the districts of Verden and Heidekreis were the last regions to lift the status of "extraordinary event". Among other things, the status made it easier for municipalities and districts to access volunteers and receive support from other regions.
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Lower Saxony had "survived a dangerous situation well," said Prime Minister Weil. "We really got off lightly." The dikes have held up in most cases, sometimes with repairs, and the number of people who have been injured is very low. However, the government has not yet made a final assessment of the flood damage. These have yet to be systematically recorded.
According to the state government, there had also been a supplementary budget in Lower Saxony after the 2017 floods, at that time in the amount of 50 million euros. Of this sum, around EUR 37.8 million had been spent. Dpa