Italy quake aid delay 'shameful'

2012-11-12 18:03

A painting representing Jesus on the cross hangs from a wall of a damaged house following an earthquake in Concordia sulla Secchia, Italy. (Lorenzo Moscia, Lapresse/ AP)

Brussels - The head of the European Parliament says it's shameful that some nations have delayed approving €670m to help Italy's Emilia Romagna region recover from this year's back-to-back earthquakes.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said on Monday that EU members who have held up talks on the approval of the EU's 2013 budget, including the quake funds, "should feel ashamed".

After talks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti over the weekend, Schulz said some EU countries were taking the earthquake aid "hostage" to get a more favourable deal from the budget negotiations.

Twenty-four people died in two temblors that struck the agricultural and industrial region in May.

EU budget talks resume late on Tuesday.

- AP