On Monday 25 March, the European Commission announced that it was funding the purchase of new fire-fighting aircraft to the tune of €600 to increase the capacity of ‘RescEU’ Europe’s strategic crisis response reserve.
The 12 new aircraft will be divided between six Member States, which are most likely to be affected by summer fires: Croatia, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain. However, they will not be confined to these countries and could be deployed in any EU country as part of a large-scale operation.
The twelve new aircraft will be delivered from 2027, with the existing ‘RescEU’ transition aircraft continuing to operate until the entire fleet is operational.
Five years ago, the European Commission modernised the EU’s civil protection mechanism and created ‘RescEU’. Funded entirely by the EU, this reserve comprises a fleet of fire-fighting aircraft and helicopters, which were deployed 35 times during 2023.
On the same day, Croatia also signed an agreement with the Canadian Commercial Corporation to be supplied with new Canadairs.
In 2023, 400,900 hectares of vegetation went up in smoke in Europe. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)