Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - North Rhine-Westphalia wants the federal government to extend the deadline for applications for help after the flood of the century. To this end, the black-green state government will introduce a Federal Council initiative this Friday, announced NRW Municipal Minister Ina Scharrenbach (CDU) on Thursday in Düsseldorf.
"The injured people on site need clarity as to whether the deadline, which expires on June 30, 2023, will be extended or not," the minister justified the initiative. "From our experiences on site we know that many have not yet submitted any applications - be it because insurance claims are still waiting for clarification, be it because numerous injured parties do not yet feel emotionally able to deal with the reconstruction. "
In order for the federal states to be able to extend the application and approval periods, federal legal requirements must first be changed. “We have been waiting for this change since the fourth quarter of 2022,” complained the CDU politician. Specifically, the state government is proposing to postpone the application deadline to June 30, 2026 and the approval deadline to December 31, 2030.
In the flood disaster in July 2021, 49 people died in NRW alone. So far, more than 2.5 million euros have been approved in NRW for the reconstruction of municipal infrastructure or injured private individuals, Scharrenbach reported.
