We are ready to provide support to Slovenia. Polish military engineers can build a pontoon bridge in a location pointed by the Slovenian authorities. A reconnaissance group is already under way - Poland's MOD chief Mariusz Błaszczak said on Wednesday (August 9). The EU will make at least 400 million euros available to Slovenia after devastating floods there killed at least six people and affected tens of thousands of households, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
At least six people have died as a result of tragic floods that swept through Slovenia, whose Prime Minister Robert Golob called "the worst natural disaster" in the country's history.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from homes around northwest and central Slovenia, with the army, firefighters and rescuers - including those from Poland - trying to free others and clear streets.
The Slovenian government estimate the losses caused by the disaster will exceed 500 million euros.
Polish engineers ready to help
At a press briefing on Wednesday, Poland's Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said Slovenia has asked NATO allies for help and support. "As part of our solidarity within NATO, we are ready to provide such support," he added.
Błaszczak assured that Polish military engineers "have such skills". "We are ready to send a 50-strong team. This kind of a team is needed to build a pontoon bridge in a location pointed by the Slovenian authorites on the spot," the MOD chief explained.
"Polish Armed Forces can provide effective support in a situation like this. Warsaw residents know it all too well - 3 years ago, when waste was spilling into the Vistula due to mayor Trzaskowski's incompetence, a pontoon bridge was constructed by Polish sappers. We are prepared to build such a bridge, for instance, in Slovenia, and thereby ease the impact of the natural disaster that hit Slovenia," minister Błaszczak added.
He also informed that a Polish "reconnaissance group is already under way to Slovenia".
EU to provide support package
EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen visited a flood-hit area in Slovenia on Wednesday.
"We have a good package of immediate support, of medium term and long term support for Slovenia", she said at a joint press conference with prime minister Golob.
Von der Leyen also said the country can also seek help from the Next Generation EU fund, which has 2.7 billion euros available for Slovenia, and added that 3.3 billion euros in other EU funds already allocated to Slovenia can be repurposed for immediate support after the floods.
"Dozens of thousands of houses have been hit by flooding and now dozens of thousands of people are thinking how to survive the next weeks and months," Golob said.
"Our message to them is clear - the help will be quick, efficient and nobody will be forgotten."
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP, Reuters