What’s in the new private insurance and state aid bill?
Legislative initiatives in the area of disaster recovery and government relief include the new Private Disaster Insurance and Government Relief Bill presented to Cabinet today by Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Vassilis Kikilia and Deputy Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, in charge of recovery from Natural Disasters and State Aid, Christos Triandopoulos.
It is part one of a trilogy of legislative initiatives in the field of disaster recovery and state aid, with the other two due in the next term. According to information from Civil Protection, the legislative initiative presented focuses on the formation of procedures that will allow the conditions to be formed for the expansion of private insurance against natural disasters in our country, which is at low levels. And for the next period, the other two legislative initiatives are launched, on the one hand for the development of the framework of housing assistance and the coverage of household equipment in homes and buildings that are affected and on the other hand for the subsidy of businesses, farmers and breeders affected by natural disasters.
Thus, the bill that was presented includes initiatives such as the creation of the Observatory of Private Insurance against Natural Disasters, the National strategy for Private Insurance against Natural Disasters, but also the mandatory insurance of large companies and private vehicles against the risk of damage from Natural Disaster. And in the coming period, legislative initiatives for homes and businesses will also be launched to create a holistic framework for dealing with the impacts of natural disasters, in which private insurance will go hand in hand with government assistance, according to the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Policy Protection.
At the same time, in the bill presented today there are provisions with support measures, which also concern Thessaly, such as the reinforcement of businesses and agricultural holdings with losses from extensive natural disasters, the Thessaly (but also Evros) Pass and the regulation of the agricultural current for the floods of September 2023, while it also includes a series of arrangements to strengthen and restructure the services of the General Secretariat for Natural Disaster Recovery and State Aid, so that they can cope with the new conditions that have developed.
