According to figures released by the European Commission in mid-December, up until 21 June 2017, the EUSF, which is intended to help the population of EU regions affected by major natural disasters, had been activated on 76 occasions and provided support to 24 member states to a total of over €5 billion.
Portugal benefited on three occasions. The first following the floods and landslides in Madeira in February 2010 (€31.3 million), then the forest fires of July 2013 (€48.5 million) and finally for the fires that also affected Madeira in August 2016 (€3.9 million).
The Commission’s list does not include assistance that Portugal requested following the forest fires in June and October, which killed over 100 people.
The Portuguese government said on 4 December that it would update its request to the EUSF as a result of forest fires in the summer, which would raise the level of disaster from ‘regional disaster’ to ‘major disaster.’
The EUSF was established following devastating floods in Central Europe in the summer of 2002.