The extent of the flood damage from mid-July is becoming increasingly clear - and how the reconstruction is to be financed.

This Wednesday the federal cabinet wants to pass a bill so that the public aid can be paid out to the victims as soon as possible.

According to the draft, the latest version of which was available to the FAZ on Tuesday, a national solidarity fund called “Development Aid 2021” will be set up as a federal fund.

It is endowed with 30 billion euros.

According to the paper, more than half of this, around 16 billion, should come from the current year's federal budget.

Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

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This amount is made up of 2 billion euros, which are necessary for the development of the federal infrastructure, for example for damaged roads or railway lines.

Berlin will have another 14 billion ready for reconstruction in the federal states in 2021.

The remainder that will be necessary from next year, another 14 billion euros, is also provided by the federal government, but formally the money comes from the federal states: They waive part of their sales tax entitlement for 30 years, between 2021 and 2050.

State aid should be accessible to everyone

The Bundestag wants to discuss the bill on Wednesday in a special session. The confirmed MPs of the FAZ The adoption of the amendment is then planned for a special meeting on September 7th, which is already planned. The submission then goes to the Federal Council. “Everything should be wrapped up before the federal elections,” was heard on Tuesday in Berlin.

The wording aid for the government groups on the planned special assets law provides, among other things, a seizure protection, so that even over-indebted companies and households can receive immediate aid. Instead of making long-term applications to the enforcement courts, it should be sufficient for the debtors to submit a certificate to the banks with which the seizure accounts are kept, such as the notification of approval for the flood aid.

The Telecommunications Act wants to change the coalition so that the disaster warning works better in the future. Cellular network operators are obliged to take technical and organizational precautions “for the immediate transmission of warnings at all times”. In the future it should be possible to reach mobile phone subscribers via CB radio. One also wants to make it easier to set up mobile accommodation, schools, kindergartens or town halls. In regions that have to arm themselves against dangerous natural events, structural changes to rail and road networks should also be possible without planning approval and planning approval procedures.

In addition to the law, a so-called development aid ordinance and administrative agreements with the federal states are also required. These papers are still being voted on. They are based on models after the flood disaster in 2013; At that time, the ordinances were available around ten days after the cabinet decision. According to the first drafts, there should be payments to damaged homeowners as well as to companies. For the latter, 80 percent of the loss in profit could be offset for half a year. It was also previously planned that private individuals who rebuild their destroyed houses would receive 80 percent of these costs from the state, and 100 percent in hardship cases. The amount of aid should be based on the payments made by elementary insurance.

According to new information from the financial supervisory authority BaFin, which is also responsible for insurance, not even half of the damaged property owners and companies had such insurance against natural hazards. BaFin Executive Director Frank Grund told the BaFin-Journal that “this is not, as one might suspect, due to the insurers”. In the flood-prone regions, fewer buildings can be insured than the average, and the tariffs are higher. Nevertheless, it is up to customers to “think about their insurance cover”. The traders asked reason to check whether their business interruption insurance also applies to such damage.

BaFin asked 150 insurance companies and 28 reinsurers about the consequences of the flood. The primary insurers expected damage of up to 5.7 billion euros, of which 4 billion were reinsured. Despite the high level of pollution, there is reason to give the all-clear for the stability of insurance companies. There are regional differences in the extent to which they are affected. "From the reports so far, however, it can be seen that there is no threat to the continued existence of the company, neither with property and casualty insurers nor with reinsurers."