The Austrian Presidency of the Council and European Parliament are still hoping to reach an agreement before the end of the year on the proposal to enhance the EU civil protection mechanism for improving the collective response to natural disasters and those of human origin. This is despite the fact that the inter-institutional negotiations look like they are going to be tough going, according to the Chairperson of the European Parliament environment committee, Adina-Ioana Vălean (EPP, Romania), on Monday evening 1 October in Strasbourg, when she was informing MEPs about the next stages in this dossier.
On 8 October next, European Parliament negotiators, with Elisabetta Gardini (EPP, Italy) at their head and the Austrian Presidency, assisted by the European Commission, will get to grips with the subject in an attempt to find common ground, following an informal first trilogue that provided an opportunity on 4 September for the two parties to present their respective positions (see EUROPE 12070, 12031).
In the meantime, progress has been made at a technical level.
Ms Vălean stated “despite the fairly significant differences in views between the Parliament and Council, there is a determination to see the negotiations concluded under the Austrian Presidency. Discussions will continue at a technical level on the most sensitive issue - the European civil protection pool, RescEU, in view of presenting compromises on 8 October. I hope that the news will be better then because the Council appears rather intransigent with regard to our position". (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)