To help the EU and its Member States fight forest fires effectively, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment support the European Commission’s proposal to extend the transitional period for the RescEU permanent reserve of airborne resources from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2027.
With the adoption of the report by Sara Cerdas (S&D, Portuguese), on 11 September they were given the unanimous green light to amend Decision 1313/2013/EU of April 2023 on the Union Civil Protection Mechanism accordingly.
Given the fluctuations of an increasingly unstable market and the shortage of specialist fire-fighting aircraft, it was necessary to extend the deadline beyond 2024 for the production of amphibious fire-fighting aircraft. MEPs considered it vital to ensure that, until the permanent fire-fighting fleet is available, Member States can obtain the necessary support in emergency situations from the capacities made available to them under the transitional period of the RescEU mechanism.
The RescEU transitional fleet currently comprises 28 aircraft, including 10 Canadairs, 14 light amphibious aircraft and 4 helicopters positioned in 10 Member States. Of the 12 aircraft that the Commission plans to purchase between now and 2030, the first will not be available until 2027.
See the Cerdas report: https://aeur.eu/f/8l3 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)