Original text - Engels - EU Chief to Assess Greek Forest Fire as Churches, Villages Destroyed

BRUSSELS - The European Union's regional policy chief will visit Greece on Friday to assess how much financial aid the bloc can award to help deal with the damage caused by the country's worst forest fires in decades.

Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Huebner will study how Greece can tap the EU's 1 billion euro ($1.36 billion) Solidarity Fund, which helps member states reconstruct after major natural disasters, two European Commission officials said.

The fires have ravaged Greece and yesterday engulfed a Greek Orthodox church in Thisoa village in central Peloponnese, some 250 km southwest of Athens.

"Commissioner Huebner wants to see the extent of the damage herself. The Greeks will have to apply for aid from the Solidarity Fund themselves," one official told Reuters.

It is too early to say how much Greece could get, but the sum is likely to be large, another official said. In 2002, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and France shared 728 million euros of EU cash to counter damage from summer floods.

Greek firefighters on Wednesday gained the upper hand over forest fires that have killed at least 63 people and left the government shaken by accusations of incompetence.

The European Commission, the EU executive, was discussing the disaster at its first meeting after the summer holidays on Wednesday.