On Thursday 2 July, MEP Níkos Androulákis (S&D, Greece) gave a presentation to the European Parliament's Committee on Environment (ENVI) where he set out his draft report on the proposal for a decision regarding a stronger civil protection mechanism, RescEU agreed in the context of the negotiating box on the 2021-2027 budget.
The rapporteur welcomes this proposal, which responds to requests previously made by the European Parliament in March when the strategic reserve for medical equipment and the budget allocated to RescEU (of €3.1 billion) was created (see EUROPE 12494/6).
It intends to strengthen, however, the legislative proposal on prevention and preparedness.
To this end, it calls for Member States to take into account the EU's disaster resilience objectives when drawing up their own risk management plans.
It also calls on the European Commission to create a common list of cross-border disaster risks, based on national analyses.
The rapporteur opposes any pre-positioning of equipment in non-Member States. With the exception of single-use equipment, such as masks, all such equipment must belong to the EU. “Of course, if there is an imminent danger in third countries, we can help”, he said.
He calls for Member States using RescEU to be obliged to inform citizens that this equipment was purchased through the European mechanism with European money, “so that they know that there is genuine EU solidarity towards Member States”. This, according to him, is “the added value of the mechanism”.
In addition, his draft report reinstates Annex I of the Regulation and the provisions specifying the percentages allocated to prevention, preparedness and response. It also reintroduces the obligation for the European Commission to lay down, by means of a delegated act, the areas where the method of budget implementation to be used will be indirect management.
The deadline for tabling such amendments is 6 July at 11 a.m.
“We have to finalise these negotiations under the German Presidency. I hope that the EU Council will be up to the task”, the rapporteur stressed. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)