Close to €1.6 billion of EU funds will help Spain recover from Valencia’s devastating floods 

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

The European Commission has proposed to the European Parliament and the Council an aid of €945 million from the EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF) to Spain to support the recovery from the destructive ‘DANA floods’ of October 2024 in Valencia.

In addition, the Commission has approved the reallocation of €645 million from Spain’s cohesion policy funds via the RESTORE mechanism, to complement the EUSF aid and boost European support for recovery efforts. 

The proposed EUSF support for Spain represents the second-largest allocation ever since the Fund’s inception in 2002 – after the €1.2 billion granted to Italy following the 2015–2016 earthquakes. An advance payment of €100 million was already paid by the Commission to Spain in April 2025 to help kick-start the recovery operations.  

The ‘DANA’ – which stands for ‘high-altitude isolated depression’ by its acronym in Spanish – of October 2024 struck the Valencian region with relentless heavy rains, leading to severe flooding that tragically killed more than 230 people and caused extensive damage to homes, schools, hospitals, transport networks, and businesses. 

President Ursula von der Leyen said: “The devastation we witnessed almost a year ago in the Valencia region and across Spain deeply touched Europe. This climate-related disaster united us in shared sorrow and solidarity. I met with representatives of the families who lost loved ones in the DANA floods and felt their pain. Today, we are committing nearly €1.6 billion from European funds to support the vital work of recovery, repair, and reconstruction. This commitment reflects our determination to help Member States build greater resilience and withstand future crises. In moments of hardship, Europe finds its true strength in unity.”

As the main EU post-disaster relief instrument, the EUSF will cover a wide range of recovery efforts, such as repairing infrastructure, providing temporary accommodation, reinforcing preventive infrastructure, preserving cultural heritage sites, and conducting clean-up operations.  

For their part, the RESTORE reallocated funds will contribute to rebuilding damaged public infrastructure including roads, metro lines, health and education centres, implementing climate mitigation and adaptation measures such as investments to restore eco-systems affected by the floods, as well as financing small and medium companies to rapidly restart their activity. These RESTORE funds will benefit from an EU co-financing rate of up to 95% of the eligible expenditure. Funds from both the EUSF and RESTORE will finance emergency measures retroactively from the first day that the DANA storm caused damage.

Next steps

Once the Commission’s proposal on the EUSF mobilisation is approved by the European Parliament and the Council, the remaining balance – the total allocation minus the pre-financing already paid – will be disbursed in a single payment. As for RESTORE funds, payments will be made progressively based on expenditure. 

Background

The EU Solidarity Fund is a key instrument for supporting post-disaster recovery in both Member States and candidate countries. Since its creation, in 2002, the Fund has mobilised over €10 billion in response to 144 disaster events (124 natural disasters and 20 health emergencies) across 24 Member States (plus the UK) and 4 accession countries 

The new RESTORE legislation adopted in December 2024, allows Member States to complement EUSF support with Cohesion Policy funds. The initiative offers a 95% EU co-financing rate and 25% pre-financing for recovery measures.