Today the EU Commission and High Representative launch the Preparedness Union Strategy to support Member States and enhance Europe’s capability to prevent and respond to emerging threats.
It comes as the European Union is facing increasingly complex crises and challenges that cannot be ignored. From growing geopolitical tensions and conflicts, hybrid and cybersecurity threats, foreign information manipulation and interference, to climate change and increasing natural disasters, the EU needs to be ready to protect its citizens and the key societal functions that are crucial for democracy and daily life.
Concretely, the Strategy includes 30 key actions and a detailed Action Plan to advance the Preparedness Union’s objectives, as well as developing a ‘preparedness by design culture’ across all EU policies.
President Ursula von der Leyen said: “New realities require a new level of preparedness in Europe. Our citizens, our Member States, and our businesses need the right tools to act both to prevent crises and to react swiftly when a disaster hits. Families living in flood zones should know what to do when the waters rise. Early warning systems can prevent regions hit by wildfires from losing precious time. Europe stands ready to support Member States and trusted partners in the neighbourhood to save lives and livelihoods.”
Key objectives and actions of the Strategy
Protecting Europe’s Essential Societal Functions
- Develop minimum preparedness criteria for essential services such as hospitals, schools, transport, and telecommunications.
- Enhance the stockpiling of critical equipment and materials.
- Enhance climate adaptation and availability of critical natural resources such as water.
Promoting Population Preparedness
- Encourage the public to adopt practical measures, such as maintaining essential supplies for a minimum of 72 hours in emergencies.
- Integrate preparedness lessons into school curricula and introduce an EU Preparedness Day.
Enhancing Crisis Response Coordination
- Establish an EU Crisis Hub to improve integration among existing EU crisis structures.
Strengthening Civil-Military Cooperation
- Conduct regular EU-wide preparedness exercises, uniting armed forces, civil protection, police, security, healthcare workers, and firefighters.
- Facilitate dual-use investments.
Bolstering Foresight and Anticipation Capabilities
- Develop a comprehensive risk and threat assessment at EU level, helping prevent crises such as natural disasters or hybrid threats.
Increasing Public-Private Cooperation
- Create a public-private Preparedness Taskforce.
- Formulate emergency protocols with businesses to ensure rapid availability of essential materials, goods, and services, and secure critical production lines.
Enhancing Cooperation with External Partners
- Work with strategic partners like NATO on military mobility, climate and security, emerging technologies, cyber, space, and the defence industry.
Overall by taking a proactive approach to preparedness, the EU aims to build a more resilient and secure continent, better equipped to face the challenges of the 21st century.
Background
The Niinistö Report on Preparedness and Readiness of the EU concluded that strengthening Europe’s civilian and military preparedness and readiness to address today’s growing security challenges – in health, migration, technology security, climate, defence or the economy – is a matter of urgency. The report called for a profound change of mindset, and a shift in the way we understand and prioritise preparedness across the European Union. It also recognised that preparedness is not only a national responsibility but a shared European endeavour requiring stronger role for the Union in coordinating and supporting Member States in this area.
The Strategy therefore focusses on an integrated all-hazards approach, a whole-of-government approach, which brings together all relevant actors, across all levels of government (local, regional, national, and EU) and a whole-of-society approach, bringing together citizens, local communities and civil society, businesses and social partners as well as the scientific and academic communities.
Moreover, working closely with Member States, the Union has the ability to face future crises – and can deliver substantial and effective solutions for citizens and societies. The events and risks the European Union went through in the last years, and the strong and efficient response to the COVID-19 pandemic – demonstrated how the close cooperation between the European Union and the Member States allows for better outcomes for people and societies.
For more information
Quote(s)
New realities require a new level of preparedness in Europe. Our citizens, our Member States, and our businesses need the right tools to act both to prevent crises and to react swiftly when a disaster hits. Families living in flood zones should know what to do when the waters rise. Early warning systems can prevent regions hit by wildfires from losing precious time. Europe stands ready to support Member States and trusted partners in the neighbourhood to save lives and livelihoods.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
Today we face an increasing number of external security challenges and a growing number of hybrid attacks in our common European space. It is clear that Europe must be stronger on all fronts and at every level of society. It is always better to prevent crises than to deal with their consequences. Our strategy is about building a comprehensive picture of the threats we face, preparing citizens including by improving their risk-awareness, stepping up civil-military cooperation, and working more closely with external partners, including NATO. Preparedness is a whole-of-government and whole-of-society challenge – today we advocate for a collective response.
Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission
This Strategy is for people and societies, to help ensure that when a crisis strikes, everything works as it should, and we are ready to act swiftly and effectively. For that, we need a new preparedness mindset so that everyone knows what to do in any emergency, no matter its nature. Europe must act with agility, working closely with Member States to boost efficiency, save time and save lives. This Strategy is our insurance policy, so we are ready to care of our people when they need it most.
Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness
Preparedness must be woven into the fabric of our societies — everyone has a role to play. Today’s threats are fast, complex, and interconnected; our response must be more proactive, more integrated, and more coordinated at European level. By harnessing the energy of our institutions, businesses, and citizens, we can build resilience and ensure Europe emerges stronger from crises.
Hadja Lahbib, Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management
Source – EU Commission
Questions and answers on the EU Preparedness Union Strategy
Brussels, 26 March 2025
Why is the Preparedness Union Strategy needed?
The European Union is facing an increasingly complex and volatile security landscape including rising geopolitical tensions, state-sponsored hybrid and cyberattacks, and foreign interference. Climate change and environmental degradation are exacerbating extreme weather events, and the COVID-19 pandemic revealed vulnerabilities in critical supply chains and health services. The pandemic and Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine showed also the clear added value that the EU can bring to preparedness and crisis planning in such scenarios.
First, we need to better understand what to prepare for. the interconnected risks and threats Europe is facing today and in the future require a coordinated approach to preparedness, moving from reactive to proactive crisis management and ensuring a culture of resilience across society.
Second, the EU has significantly upscaled its crisis management toolbox over the last years while recent large-scale and long-lasting crisis. However, this toolbox remains fragmented across different institutions, services and agencies. With the Preparedness Union we will bring these capabilities together within a coordinated umbrella.
Third, to be ready for all worst-case scenarios, we need upscale our preparedness and bring all hands on board. Businesses, civil society organisations and citizens have valuable expertise and skills to support societal preparedness and resilience. The Preparedness Strategy offers support to better integrate them into our collective civilian preparedness.
What type of crises is the EU preparing for?
The EU is preparing for a broad spectrum of risks and threats, encompassing both natural and human-induced disasters. This includes:
- Natural disasters: floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change.
- Human-induced disasters: industrial accidents, technological failures, and pandemics.
- Hybrid threats: cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns and foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), and sabotage of critical infrastructure.
- Geopolitical crises: armed conflicts, including the possibility of armed aggression against Member States.
What are the key areas of the Strategy?
The strategy outlines seven key areas of focus:
- Foresight and anticipation: Strengthening the EU’s ability to identify and analyse emerging risks and threats. For example, this Strategy aims to improve the way Early Warning Systems work and increase capacity around horizon scanning on risks and threats. These in turn would help inform Member States and the Commission.
- Resilience of vital societal functions: Ensuring the continuity of essential services and infrastructure, including healthcare, transport, drinking water, telecommunications or public administration services, among others, even in the event of a crisis. Population preparedness and societal resilience: Empowering citizens and communities to prepare for and respond to crises.
- Public-private cooperation: Fostering collaboration between government and industry to enhance preparedness.
- Civil-military cooperation: Strengthening coordination between civilian and military authorities.
- Crisis response coordination and effective decision-making: Improving the EU’s ability to manage and respond to emergencies.
- Resilience through external partnerships: Collaborating with international partners to address cross-border threats.
In which areas will the EU focus its efforts to enhance population preparedness?
The EU will focus its efforts on enhancing population preparedness working with Member States, with a particular emphasis on fostering a culture of resilience at national and local level. This includes improving public awareness of risks through targeted information campaigns, educational programs, and accessible online resources.
Efforts will also concentrate on empowering citizens to take proactive measures to prepare for crises, such as developing household emergency plans and stockpiling essential supplies. The EU will also support the development of effective public warning and crisis communication systems by Member States to reach all citizens, regardless of their location, language, or circumstances.
Which areas will the EU prioritise in its stockpiling strategy?
EU’s stockpiling strategy will integrate all existing stockpiling actions focus on securing access to critical resources across the Union, working closer with Member States. This includes:
- Emergency and disaster response supplies: essential equipment, materials, and resources needed to respond to natural and human-made disasters.
- Medical countermeasures: vaccines, medicines, and medical equipment to address public health emergencies.
- Critical raw materials: resources essential for industrial production and strategic autonomy.
- Energy equipment: components and technologies needed to maintain energy security.
- Potentially, agri-food products and water security: to insure against shortages in times of crisis.
Why is enhanced civil-military cooperation essential for the EU’s Preparedness Union strategy?
To effectively address modern, complex threats like hybrid warfare, cyberattacks, and potential armed aggression, the EU needs seamless cooperation between civilian and military authorities.
Key actions include:
- Establishing a comprehensive civil-military preparedness framework with clear roles and responsibilities.
- Facilitating dual-use planning and investment across member states, identifying key infrastructure and equipment.
- Conducting regular EU-wide comprehensive preparedness exercises to test decision-making and coordination.
- Enhancing cooperation with strategic partners, such as NATO, in countering this broad range of threats.
How does the Preparedness Union Strategy address the challenge of cross-border crises?
The strategy acknowledges that many modern crises, such as pandemics, cyberattacks, hybrid actions and climate-related disasters, by their very nature – transcend national borders. It develops a framework for coordinated EU risk and threat assessments by:
- Strengthening EU-level early-warning systems and information sharing mechanisms.
- Enhancing the capabilities of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) and rescEU to facilitate rapid assistance across borders.
- Promoting cross-border public-private partnerships to ensure the resilience of critical infrastructure and supply chains.
- Fostering external partnerships to address common threats.
When will new EU proposals and reviews of legislation be subject to security, preparedness, and resilience checks?
Preparedness and security considerations will be integrated and mainstreamed across EU legislation, policies and programmes. New policies, legislation and programmes will be prepared or reviewed with a preparedness and security perspective in mind, consistently identifying potential impacts of the preferred policy option on preparedness and security. This will be underpinned with regular training for policy makers in the Commission.
Why is a comprehensive EU risk and threat assessment needed?
To be well-prepared, we need to know what to prepare for. As the risk landscape grows more complex, we need stronger risk insight and assessment tools. While efforts to detect and analyse risks and threats have expanded across the EU, they have predominantly been approached from sectoral or national angles. This limits our ability to see the full picture, understand interconnections, anticipate cascading effects or cross-border implications. Scientific knowledge also remains underused. The new EU risk and threat assessment will aim to close these gaps by offering a cross-sectoral, cross-hazard perspective — providing a more comprehensive understanding of risks and threats across Europe.
According to the Strategy, the Commission and the High Representative, with support from relevant EU agencies, will finalise the first comprehensive EU risk and threat assessment by the end of 2026. This assessment will be based on a newly developed framework for coordinated risk and threat evaluations across various policy areas.
Source – EU Commission