The Buzz | German Cabinet approves some USD472 million in first flood aid

Germany’s Cabinet yesterday approved a roughly 400 million-euro ($472 million) package of immediate aid for victims of last week’s floods and vowed to get started quickly on rebuilding the devastated areas — a task whose cost isn’t yet clear but is expected to run well into the billions.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said that the package, financed half by the federal government and half by Germany’s state governments, to help people deal with the immediate aftermath of the flooding will end up being bigger if more money is needed.
“We will do what is necessary to help everyone as quickly as possible,” he said. Authorities in the two affected states are responsible for details of who receives how much and how, but Scholz said they have indicated that there will no means-testing and it will be “a very unbureaucratic process.”
“It’s necessary to send a message quickly that there is a future, that we are taking care of it together, that this is a matter for us as the whole country to help with,” he added.