On Tuesday 22 July in Copenhagen, the ministers and representatives of the interior ministers of the EU27 discussed preparedness for crises of all kinds: climate, military or health-related.
Using the Commission’s recent communication on storage strategies in the Member States (see EUROPE 13377/18) as a starting point, the ministers stressed the need to use resources wisely to manage crises and to ensure good cooperation between the various levels, both national and EU, summarised the Danish minister responsible, Torsten Schack Pedersen.
The Member States want “strong civil protection mechanisms” and “a better understanding of the risks and their cascading effects”, commented Commissioner Hadja Lahbib, noting that a recent interruption in Denmark’s digital payment system caused disruption to road traffic.
The session also demonstrated the willingness of member countries to involve citizens, to take account of the most vulnerable members of the public, to equip themselves with ambitious early warning systems, but also to strengthen civil and military cooperation and to involve the private sector as well.
During this discussion, however, the ministers also repeatedly raised the need to respect subsidiarity, added the Commissioner.
She also gave “a very clear message: dedicate adequate funding” to preparedness strategies.
“In building a Preparedness Union, a core and cross-cutting element is civil-military cooperation”, wrote the Danish Presidency of the EU Council in a preparatory note. “We are looking into an increasing number of both natural and man-made scenarios, where civilian authorities will need military support and vice versa”. In the event of extreme weather events, such as forest fires, floods, earthquakes, power failures and hybrid scenarios, civil authorities are likely to increasingly need military support.
“Equally, in the possible event of a security crisis or an armed aggression affecting one or more Member States, civilian authorities will need to support military efforts, just as substantial civil protection efforts may be needed at the same time. It is thus likely that the EU and its Member States may encounter considerable strain on individual and collective civilian preparedness capacities, including but not limited to civil protection”. Complementarity between EU and NATO must also be enhanced, the document argues.
On his arrival in Copenhagen, France’s Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, said it was vital to “fight together”, at a time when “climate disruption” was causing fires to become “increasingly intense, and not just in the south” of the EU.
The Minister also welcomed the launch in France over the last few days of an “Erasmus for young firefighters”, with eight different nationalities “coming to see how our system works”.
“Better resilience means a better risk culture”, added Mr Retailleau. “We need to motivate young people to get involved in civil protection, from a very early age”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)