14/02/2018 (Agence Europe) – European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, Christos Stylianides was in Dublin to continue his tour of European capital cities on 14 February where he presented the Irish Minister for Defence, Paul Kehoe, with the European Commission proposal to create an enhanced civil protection mechanism, known as rescEU. On 9 February he was with the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, with whom he debated the advantages of a European civil protection reserve in helping member states that have been overcome by large-scale natural disasters without encroaching on these states’ prerogatives. The tour of the capital cities began in January in the hope of winning the support of national governments for a proposal that seeks to increase efficiency and which also includes a section on preventing natural disasters (see EUROPE 11945, 11911). (AN)