- “So this will be basically finalized. Some of them will be finalized by the end of 26. Given the cutoff date of the next generation U. So I would also like to underline that the civil protection mechanism is also active when it comes to early warning and situational crisis awareness. The EU has developed systems to help monitor and inform about disasters induced by natural hazards, including floods, wildfires, droughts, tropical cyclone, etc., etc. I note know that. And these are managed by our your, uh, emergency coordination, uh, coordination Center, which is based in our premises. I know that some of the honourable members have already visited the center, and I very much welcome those that have not done yet to to do so. So these are all early warning information systems. They provide real, uh, near real time information and are freely available to support national and regional authorities and the international community. But more than ever, apart from what we are doing at the European level. So at the institutional level, it is very important, the public awareness, which is a vital component of the culture of prevention and preparedness within the spirit of the whole of society approach and the mechanism does promote awareness raising campaigns to help citizens understand the disaster risks and take effective protective measures. There is at the moment a rescue campaign which is running in a few member states. Another similar campaign occurred last year about rescue, knowledge sharing and prevention. Preparedness and response has also been strengthened through the launch in 21 of the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network.”
EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · EU policy on infrastructure for preventing climate-related disasters (floods, droughts, extreme weather etc.)
- “So the mechanism was created in 2001. The original objective, which is still the objective that we have today, is to strengthen cooperation between the Union member and participating states and all countries participating in this mechanism, aimed at preventing, preparing, and respond to natural and human induced disasters, is a key instrument in the European Union Strategy for Disaster Risk Management. We have all witnessed in the past years how emergencies can be dramatically impacting on the life of the citizens, on the structure. On on on the on the life basically of our daily, daily, uh, daily, daily, uh, daily endeavors. Uh, so the provision of well coordinated and rapid mutual assistance amongst member states is essential. It allows for an increased creation of of preparedness for large scale disasters, creating a more coherent disaster risk management policy. So, um, the EU focuses on areas where the joint action could be better and more efficient than the action of member and participating states alone. Through the UK, PM countries can pool resources that can be used to be deployed in order to address different emergencies. It is important that we understand that the system is based on a multi-layer approach. First, we have a layer whereby national capacities will be used to address emergencies at national level that can be faced without the intervention of the European Civil Protection Mechanism. This is the first layer. Then we have a second layer in the mechanism, which consists in capacities, which exists already at member states level, member and participating level that are pulled together in what is called the pool.”
EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · EU policy on infrastructure for preventing climate-related disasters (floods, droughts, extreme weather etc.)
- “Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon everybody. Honourable members, it is a pleasure for me to be here to showcase the activities of the European Civil Protection Mechanism and its role when it comes to preparedness against major emergencies. As you may know, on the 1st of April of this year at the EU plenary. My Commissioner, Mrs. Labib, presented a preparedness strategy which was adopted by the Commission a few days earlier on the 26th of March. This is a major initiative, but at the same time, it is an initiative that builds on something that already exists. So the Union Civil Protection Mechanism. I'm here. I would try also to be a little bit pedagogical to explain what the European Civil Protection Mechanism is. First of all, I would like to recall that the Commission has only in this area a supporting competence, meaning that the responsibility remains within the member States and the participating states. For those that are not familiar with civil protection, I would say that the union mechanism is not only the 27 EU member states. But there are also ten other participating states which are fully part of the mechanism. These are mostly from the Western Balkans like Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia. Uh, we have, uh uh, we have Albania, and then we have others that come from other parts of Europe, like Turkey. We have Iceland. We have Norway. The two last, uh, uh, countries that have joined the mechanisms are Moldova and then Ukraine. So this happened last year. Very important to recall this because they are fully part of the of the mechanism.”
EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · EU humanitarian missions · EU policy on infrastructure for preventing climate-related disasters (floods, droughts, extreme weather etc.)
- “Notably, when there are conflict zones, when there is no government in place, etc., the UN and UN agency can also activate the mechanism. But mind you, we are not responsible. We cannot push the countries to activate. It is their responsibility to activate. We are in constant, constant contact with the countries but it is their responsibility. So we cannot assume ours. We cannot push. We cannot impose the activation if we expect, if we see with our instruments that should that might be a catastrophe which is looming. It is expected. Then we can predict that can be the mechanism can be pre activated. So so meaning that the capacities are sort of standby ready to be deployed. Also since 2022 we have created a system of pre pre-positioning of forest fire fighters in some places. Some countries which are prone to forest fire particularly so, there are teams of forest fire fighters that are there pre-positioned for two months or one month or two months or few or few weeks. They are there because we expect that there will be forest fires one day or the other. So this is important to underline, and this is a very successful system that we have created. Last reply on the legislation. Yes. You say it's a it's a new legislation. It is true. The mechanism was created in 2021, but it has been revised the various times it was revised. The very important revision which I mentioned was in 2019 with the creation of rescue and also, for instance, of the Knowledge Network. Very important. And now we are working on the proposal to be submitted in the context of the package for the MFF. So basically there has been a revision over time. Thank you.”
EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · Conditions to access EU humanitarian aid · EU policy on infrastructure for preventing climate-related disasters (floods, droughts, extreme weather etc.)
- “Following a certification process, they are registered there and then can be deployed whenever there is an emergency. A request for activation of the mechanism coming from Europe or from other parts of the world. So basically the coverage is worldwide. Then since 2019, with the revision of the CPM legislation, we have this third layer, which is called the rescue. It is an instrument which represents a safety net or a last resort, meaning that it's a series of capacities which are being developed at the European level, are still obviously stocked in the member and participating states, but this can be deployed whenever there is an emergency and the focus is Europe, unless there is an impact on EU citizens or EU member states, it is important to underline that this third layer represents something that would be too heavy or costly to be developed at the national level, so it's meaning that it's something really a safety net or last resort. We have developed capacities in different areas, starting from aerial forest fires. Means meaning planes, helicopters. Then in Cbrn, medical, shelter, energy, transport, logistics, all these capacities are being developed. As it was mentioned by director Philippe Cova in her intervention. We have benefited from a huge injection of money from the next generation EU around the €2 billion for capacities that were in, in a way, related to health or a medical Medical emergencies. So with this, we have been able to sign several grant agreements with several member states 16 at the moment, creating 22 in total stockpiles of Cbrn and and medical countermeasures.”
EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · EU policy on infrastructure for preventing climate-related disasters (floods, droughts, extreme weather etc.)
- “Thank you very much. Definitely a very interesting debate. I will reply to three areas of questions. First one, do we have enough budget to cater for emergencies? I would say that for the European Civil Protection Mechanism is more in the in the game of preparedness and response rather than prevention. I would say prevention is more for other instruments within the EU budget basically. So the regional funds, agriculture etcetera, etcetera. So because there is where the big money is, of course, we could not afford under the civil protection mechanism to cater for Therefore also all the prevention activities. Budget wise. I would say that in this particular MFF we received, as I said, a great injection of funds through the next generation EU, which is at the same time a blessing and a curse. A blessing because of course, with 2 billion we were able to to develop new capacities, notably in the area of the medical and CBN and others. But at the same time, this was shorter in as a timeline of course, contracting. So grant agreements until the end of 2023 for implementation until the end of 2026. Now since we have developed so many capacities and we have this cutoff date of 2026, of course, our aim as the aim of all member and participating states of the mechanism is that these resources, These capacities will have to be sustainable over time. That is why we need. We need an adequate level of funding for the next MFF. So it is very important that we are able to continue to keep these capacities, which are vital for the preparedness for all Europe. Second point, activation of the mechanism activation. We know as it was also recalled it only it is only possible by a country. So a country or an agency, notably the UN.”
Size of EU budget · EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · EU policy on infrastructure for preventing climate-related disasters (floods, droughts, extreme weather etc.)
- “This network includes an IT platform that has become the go to hub for civil protection community. In the last years, it enables stakeholders to share expertise and good practices, and there is a lot of information available there. So I would invite everyone to have a look because you can find very useful and interesting, uh, material there. So as I mentioned at the beginning of my presentation, preparedness is now a recognised new dimension with a wider scope. The Preparedness Union Strategy introduces a new principle to guide how we design new policies and programs, which is preparedness by design. This strategy includes 30 concrete actions. The core principles are three. Basically, all hazards approach a world society approach and the whole of government approach, meaning different layers in the government. We experience some times indeed, that there is an insufficient coordination within the member within the countries themselves. So between the different areas or different constituencies like civil protection and health or others. So it's very important, this aspect of coordination to make a real difference. Preparedness by design must be operational, operationalized across different EU instruments. In particular in the new MFF. So I would finish by recalling the cost efficiency of such investment. Preparedness does thus require investment. The good news is that it pays off. Investing now means fewer disruption, lower recovery costs, and a stronger long term competitiveness. Making budget available for preparedness will therefore help us not only to save lives, to protect the environment and the cultural heritage, but will also help to save money. Thank you very much.”
EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · Conditions to access EU humanitarian aid · EU policy on infrastructure for preventing climate-related disasters (floods, droughts, extreme weather etc.)