The government of Georgia Meloni today approved measures worth 2 billion euros to provide emergency assistance to the population of the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, which last week was hit by a severe wave of bad weather that killed fifteen people.

As the Prime Minister of Italy said, the main measures include the payment of wages by the state to workers who will be suspended from work for ninety days. 580 million euros were allocated for these purposes. At the same time, the payment of taxes by residents of the region will be frozen until August. There is also more than twenty million euros for repairing damage to schools and another two hundred million for the disaster fund.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has approved special support, while the cost of tickets to all museums in Italy will be temporarily increased by 1 euro in order to preserve the art and cultural heritage of Emilia-Romagna.

“New assistance to the disabled is planned. All the ministers cooperated, our government made every effort,” Georgia Meloni said, adding that “then there will be a second phase, with new funds for reconstruction.”

The regional governor of Emilia-Romagna, Stefano Bonacini, thanked the government of Rome for the immediate action and stressed:

“There are people who have lost everything, enterprises that are completely or partially destroyed. It will take a lot of effort to restore, with a main focus on three things: infrastructure and roads, prevention of new landslides and their consequences, and continuous effective cleaning of rivers and streams.”

Source: RES-IPE