Speaking to MEPs on the Environment Committee (ENVI) on Monday 26 September, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič reflected on the summer’s extreme weather events and the preparations underway to increase the EU’s prevention, preparedness and response capacity for the 2023 forest fire season and beyond.
The Commissioner was invited to speak after the European Parliament called for more robust, integrated and preventive EU action (see EUROPE 13023/16).
“We are concerned about how we will get through the winter, but let’s not forget last summer and the need to anticipate next summer”, he said, noting that this year alone forest fires had ravaged “770,000 hectares on our continent”, and caused “unprecedented damage”.
He announced that the European Commission has prepared a four-point action plan, taking into account the consensus of the European Ministers responsible for civil protection to strengthen prevention and collective response capacity (see EUROPE 13014/12), the expectations of the European Parliament and the announcements made by the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her State of the Union speech on 14 September (see EUROPE 13021/7).
The first step will be to extend the European fire-fighting safety net by “doubling our capacity” through the purchase of 10 light amphibious aircraft and 3 helicopters.
It will also be necessary to speed up the establishment of the new RescEU standing fleet, the fire-fighting equipment pool of the EU’s civil protection mechanism. “This implementation is envisaged for 2026, but we would like to start earlier”, Lenarčič said.
The third axis will be to pre-position more fire brigades, as was done last summer in Greece (fire brigades deployed by Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Norway), as of June. Over 200 firefighters were pre-positioned, and were able to help on multiple occasions between July and August, but more needs to be done. “Based on the positive experience of this pilot project, we want to replicate it in other parts of Europe”, Lenarčič stressed, indicating that the European Commission is already inviting interested Member States to come forward.
The fourth area of action will be the development of a new prevention plan, using all the tools of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, including work on disaster scenarios. It should help Member States to anticipate the impact of fires and will provide a knowledge network and technical support.
The Commissioner also stressed the importance of protecting forests and biodiversity and combating soil erosion in order to adapt to “the new climate change situation”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)