Article 2
1
At the request of a Member State or of a country involved in accession negotiations with the Union, hereinafter referred to as
‘
eligible State
’
, assistance from the Fund may be mobilised when serious repercussions on living conditions, human health, the natural environment or the economy occur in one or more regions of that eligible State as a consequence of:
a
a major or regional natural disaster having taken place on the territory of the same eligible State or of a neighbouring eligible State; or
b
a major public health emergency having taken place on the territory of the same eligible State.
Direct damage caused as the direct consequence of a natural disaster shall be regarded as part of the damage caused by that natural disaster.
2
For the purposes of this Regulation, a
‘
major natural disaster
’
means any natural disaster resulting, in an eligible State, in direct damage estimated either at over EUR
3 000 000 000
in 2011 prices, or more than 0,6 % of its GNI.
2a
For the purposes of this Regulation, a
‘
major public health emergency
’
means any life-threatening or otherwise serious hazard to health of biological origin in an eligible State seriously affecting human health and requiring decisive action to contain further spreading, resulting in a public financial burden inflicted on the eligible State for emergency response measures estimated at over EUR
1 500 000 000
in 2011 prices, or more than 0,3 % of its GNI.
3
For the purposes of this Regulation, a
‘
regional natural disaster
’
means any natural disaster resulting, in a region at NUTS level 2 of an eligible State, in direct damage in excess of 1,5 % of that region’s gross domestic product (GDP).
By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, where the region concerned, in which a natural disaster has occurred, is an outermost region within the meaning of Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
‘
regional natural disaster
’
means any natural disaster resulting in direct damage in excess of 1 % of that region’s GDP.
Where the natural disaster concerns several regions at NUTS level 2, the threshold shall be applied to the average GDP of those regions weighted according to the share of total damage in each region.
4
Assistance from the Fund may also be mobilised for any natural disaster in an eligible State which is also a major natural disaster in a neighbouring eligible State.
5
For the purpose of this Article, harmonised statistical data provided by Eurostat shall be used.
Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2020/461 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 March 2020 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 in order to provide financial assistance to Member States and to countries negotiating their accession to the Union that are seriously affected by a major public health emergency.