A key German minister has said that a rumored eight-billion-euro package for flood relief is in the right ball park. It will be financed 50-50 by federal and state governments, Thuringia's state premier said.
According to Thuringia's state premierChristine Lieberknecht, Germany's central government agreed on the multi-billion euro package with Germany's sixteen state premiers during a meeting in Berlin on Thursday.
"We think … that a figure of eight billion euros ($10.6 billion) for this fund is a realistic one to consider," Lieberknecht told reporters on the sidelines of ongoing talks with her state counterparts and Chancellor Angela Merkel. Lieberknecht added, however, that the precise size of the fund - and the means by which the money would be raised - was yet to be decided. The eight-billion-euro figure was first leaked by government sources on condition of anonymity on Wednesday.
Citing German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, she said the federal and state governments had agreed to share the costs equally.
The German government in 2002 provided a combined aid package worth roughly 7 billion euros to repair the damages from the country's last major floods.
More to come…
ccp/msh (dpa, AFP) dw de
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