Overview

• After three earlier vetoes, leaders of two survivors’ groups appeared before the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions to detail failures they say turned the October 29, 2024 DANA into a mass-casualty event.
• The associations demanded a full inquiry into crisis management and possible breaches of EU flood-risk rules, as well as reparations, infrastructure recovery and sustained support for victims.
• In closing remarks, the victims explicitly assigned primary responsibility to the Valencian Consell and its president, Carlos Mazón, with one leader calling Emergencias’ response a “homicidal management.”
• A European Commission representative said Brussels coordinated aid from other member states but stressed key responsibilities lie with national and regional authorities, noting potential judicial routes if the right to life was violated, including the European Court of Human Rights.
• The committee kept the petition open, requested the Commission’s written assessment and discussed follow-up options such as a mission to the hardest-hit areas, after the groups amended their petition to secure the hearing and as the EPP signaled conditional openness to a visit.