Status: 08/01/2021 2:57 a.m.
After the flood disaster, Federal Finance Minister Scholz was open to compulsory insurance against natural hazards. He also suggested a fund in order to be prepared for a comparable situation in the future.
After the flood disaster, Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz showed himself to be open to mandatory natural hazard insurance. “The question is whether you want to impose this obligation on all citizens,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “That would make the prices for living more expensive again”. This debate should first be led by the federal states, said Scholz.
“If there is an agreement, the federal government will certainly not oppose it,” said Scholz. He also suggested the establishment of a disaster fund. “Basically, our country has to prepare for such situations in the future,” he said. Climate change is man-made and those who are most severely affected should not be left alone with the consequences. “I propose a pension fund that the federal government and all the states organize together,” said Scholz.
Less than half of the buildings are insured
Two weeks ago, at least 179 people died in the storm in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. After the severe flooding, a debate broke out about how such damage could be better insured.
According to the insurance association GDV, only around 46 percent of the buildings in the Federal Republic are currently insured with natural hazard insurance, which would step in in the event of natural events such as heavy rain, floods or landslides.