By Chris Morris BBC Europe Correspondent, Brussels

The European Commission says it wants to create a permanent European Union fund of up to one billion euros for natural, technological and environmental disasters.

The announcement was made in the wake of the disastrous floods which have hit much of central Europe over the last few weeks.

The Commission President, Romano Prodi, said he was confident that EU national governments and the European parliament would approve the proposal as quickly as possible.

It would be an expression of European solidarity, Mr Prodi said, adding he hoped that 500 million euros could be used for disaster relief this year.

Savings

The fund would also be available to countries which are currently negotiating to join the EU - the Czech Republic and Slovakia for example, which, along with EU member states Germany and Austria, were particularly badly hit by this month's floods.

The money to set up the fund is not new. It would be found from savings within the EU's current budget.

Mr Prodi said several billion euros from existing European aid funds would also be re-directed from existing regional funds to help deal with the aftermath of the recent floods.