Zusammenfassung:
As climate change intensifies, flood events are becoming more frequent and more destructive across Europe. In Germany, catastrophic floods in 2021 caused over EUR 40 billion in damages, prompting a large-scale government aid response. At the same time, only about 50 percent of residential properties are insured against natural hazards (GDV 2023) - leaving a large share of losses uncovered. This creates a classic policy dilemma: Should governments continue to offer ad hoc compensation after disasters? Or should they shift more responsibility to the private sector through mechanisms like mandatory insurance? Across the European Union, the "insurance protection gapˮ for natural catastrophes remains large. According to the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European In- surance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), less than 5 percent of disas- ter-related damages between 1980 and 2023 were insured in countries like Portu- gal, Greece, and Bulgaria (ECB and EIOPA 2024). Even in Germany, where the gap is smaller, only about 23 percent of losses were covered by insurance during this period. Denmark and Romania are among the few EU countries requiring flood insurance by law, while France operates a de facto mandatory system through a public-private partnership (Roth 2021). Elsewhere, voluntary take-up remains low - raising con- cerns about fiscal sustainability and prompting calls for reform (ECB and EIOPA 2024).