Brussels, 10/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - At 10.00am on Thursday 13 March, the members of the European Economic and Social Committee, meeting in Brussels for their plenary session, will listen to the French minister for agriculture and fisheries and former European commissioner for regional policy, Michel Barnier, voice his thoughts on the best way for Europe to respond to international crises. He will take this opportunity to relaunch the 12 measures he proposed in May 2006 to reinforce the crisis management of the EU, including the creation of the European civil protection force.
The speech by the next president of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of the EU comes shortly after the European Commission's presentation of its action plan aiming to reinforce the EU's disaster reaction capacity (EUROPE 9616), but also in the framework of the examination (prior to adoption) by the EESC of the additional draft opinion on natural disasters by Ms Sanchez Miguel (Workers' Group, Spain). In this draft, the Committee takes the view that the system of environmental responsibility must be applied, meaning the clear establishment of the responsibility of those who have caused certain disasters, as in the case of deliberate fires. An improved application of national provisions and information on the consequences of failing to respect the prevention rules and on criminal actions, not only on the part of citizens, but also the competent authorities, may help to attenuate the effects of natural disasters, according to a press release issued by the EESC.
There are two main ideas underpinning the 2006 report on “crisis management by the EU” by Michel Barnier: the pooling of existing national tools, and the anticipation of disasters. At the time, the minister proposed 12 concrete measures to be implemented by 2010, the central one being the creation of a European civil protection force named “Europe Aid” with an operational centre in Brussels “whose management would be entrusted to the European Commission”, Michel Barnier commented at the time, adding that: (1) in close collaboration with the crisis cells of the member states and the civil and military cells of the EU, this centre would be tasked with preparing scenarios and systematic protocols for action to respond to its seven major risks: earthquakes and tsunami, fires and forest fires, floods and landslides, industrial and nuclear accidents, terrorist attacks, disasters at sea, and major pandemics; (2) the European force will be based on five principles: “double subsidiarity” with the United Nations and the member states, its voluntary nature and a “top-down approach”, European solidarity, the specialisation of the member states in the event of a specific risk, and participation open to third countries. Among the other measures put forward by Michel Barnier, the following are particularly worthy of note: - supporting the European force in the extremely remote regions of the EU; - creating a Civil Security Council made up of such figures as the presidents of the Council of the EU and the European Commission, the high representative of the EU for the CFSP, and the chief of staff of the EU; creating a “one-stop shop” for the humanitarian response of the EU; - defining an integrated European approach to crisis response at all stages of the life cycle of the crisis (before, during and afterwards); - creating European consulates; - creating a European consular code; - creating laboratories for victim identification; - bringing in a clear system of information for the European citizen, including numbers to call for assistance. For more details on the Barnier report, see EUROPE 9188 of 10 May 2006. (G. B.)