On 28 November 2013, the Committee of the Regions unanimously adopted its opinion on the EU Solidarity Fund. This was the first opinion to be drafted by a Committee of the Regions ECR Group member.

The CoR expressed its views on the European Commission's 25 proposed amendments to the Solidarity Fund, published on 25 July 2013. Created in 2002, the Solidarity Fund is the EU's main tool for assisting the Member States affected by major national disasters.

The rapporteur, Mr. Pavel Branda (CZ/ECR), Deputy Mayor of Rádlo, noted that "the regions and municipalities affected need the funding to be targeted at their real needs. Here, our proposal is to widen the scope of eligible operations, so that infrastructure is not simply replaced and restored to the same condition it was in before the disaster, but can be improved to make it more resilient or even relocated altogether."

 The opinion calls for a review of the current deadlines so as to better reflect the needs of affected regions. It calls for an extension of the deadline for the use of the Fund to 2 years and the application deadline to be calculated 10 weeks after the state of emergency is over rather than 10 weeks after the first damage is caused.

 The CoR also drew attention to the fact that a lower threshold (1 % of regional GDP) for "extraordinary regional disasters" would be more appropriate.

 Rosa Estaràs Ferragut MEP and the European Parliament's rapporteur on the Solidarity Fund also spoke at the CoR plenary session. She welcomed the opinion, noting that she would incorporate many of the CoRs proposals into her own opinion.

 The President of the Committee of the Regions, Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, noted that "this is an example case for future cooperation with the European Parliament."