Preparedness Union Strategy: Speeches and reactions by EU politicians

Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu

As we say in English, fix your roof while the sun is still shining. Or in Romanian, my native Romanian, we say, pregătește-ți iarna carul și vara sănia. Prepare your chariots in the winter and your sledge, your sley in the summer.

So preparedness is about ourselves, the whole of the union, the whole of the society, the whole of the government, an all of hazards approach. It’s about us exiting a reactive, responsive mindset towards potential risks and hazards and entering into an approach, into a mindset that is about forecasting, about anticipating risk, about prevention, about information, about education, about preparation, and then in the end about crisis management and crisis response, better performed with the involvement of the EU level.

Actually, 90% of EU respondents’ questions via Eurobarometer mentioned that it was very important, fairly important, overall important, that the European Union is involved in the coordination towards crisis responses. And of course, obviously, towards preparation and anticipation.

And it is about that, our Preparedness Union strategy: what the EU, what added value the European Union brings in supporting Member States, in working with Member States, in working with regional and local governments, with businesses, with social partners, civil society, with the population, to be able to prepare and to navigate more efficiently a landscape where we see more and more often across sectors different types of risks and hazards.

They can be climate-related risks in some parts of Europe, and there the awareness is absolutely much more acute. And maybe with the preparedness, the investment, of those Member States are more advanced. Southern regions, let’s talk about wildfires or about floods, but floods also affect Central Europe, Eastern Europe. We can talk about cyber security risks, which are borderless. And of course, sometimes you may look at incidents that relate to hospitals, cyber attacks in part of Europe, or about other types of incidents in other Member States. But they are borderless, and they require a joint effort and a joint response.

We can, of course, look at the potential risks that come from disinformation, manipulation. And these require, of course, coordinated action and coordinated responses. And, of course, man-made conflicts are also potential risks and hazards, and these also require coordinated preparation, anticipation.

Towards all these potential risks, the Preparedness Union strategy comes with a set of responses. We are not starting from scratch. The COVID pandemic has shown that the added value of acting together in solidarity, in coordination, in the European Union framework is absolutely crucial, that it makes us more efficient, that it makes us stronger.

Of course, we need to go a bit further to be much more efficient. And towards this purpose the Preparedness Union strategy comes with this all of government, all of society, all hazards approach. It is a complex approach.

It will require a lot of work with Member States to be able to put into place a set of actions, concrete actions and initiatives that are mentioned in the Preparedness Union strategy. But it is also about being aware of our responsibility to be prepared. And this mindset about being responsible refers to a societal preparation as well.

Coming back a bit to my direct portfolio, which is on social, it is important that in the Preparedness Union strategy, we have one of the seven pillars that is dedicated to societal preparedness. And there we need to talk to our citizens, all generations, all households, those that are vulnerable. All need to be informed, all need to be equipped to be skilled in order to be able to be prepared. In the end, you need to know how to act, how to react. If the power goes out, if there’s an earthquake, if there’s a massive flood, or if there’s any type of threat, how do you protect yourself? What resources do you need? How do you yourself take responsibility and what else do you expect to receive support from the public authorities?

So the societal dimension is important. You will see in the Preparedness Union strategy elements related to the need that we not only set up information and alert systems, but also to teach, to introduce in curricula and training programs elements related to how we anticipate, understand, and manage risks.

It is also very important, and we discussed this today in the college, to encourage volunteers and volunteering, which we already do through our European programs, through the European Solidarity Corps, through Erasmus. But we need to encourage volunteering even more in order to be able to support each other and to really implement solidarity.

And it is also very important that in the Preparedness Union strategy, in the societal dimension, we tackle disinformation, misinformation. This is connected with what we put in the Union of Skills. One of the key basic skills is the citizenship skill, which means being able to have critical thinking, being able to identify and to be protected against malicious information, disinformation, because this is one of the main threats, one of the main risks that is addressed by this Preparedness Union strategy.

So it is a complex document. It is a document that talks about prevention, about being proactive, about working closer together with Member States, about having preparedness by design in our EU policies, and invite Member States should do the same with their policies, whether it’s about skills, whether it’s about cyber, about how budget, finance, Clean Industrial Deal. A preparedness lens is already important for the different types of risks that we might need to mitigate.

Thank you.

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Commissioner Hadja Lahbib

450 million citizens. 450 million reasons to be better prepared.

Today’s threats facing Europe are more complex than ever, and they are all connected. For three years in Ukraine, we have seen a battlefield of bombs and bullets, drones and fighter planes, trenches and submarines.

Our European security is directly threatened by this. It is also threatened by other battlefields. The battlefields in our pockets — our phones — and our computers, our power plants, our banks, our supply chains, our raw materials, and in the media we consume every day. These are all battlefields, and they are being weaponised to threaten our European way of life and our democracies.

The European Union has two ways of responding: we can stick our head in the sand and act like it isn’t happening. Or we can look these threats squarely in the eye and say: “This is the reality. We will prepare.”

Since the start of my mandate as Commissioner for Preparedness, I have visited countries here in Europe and halfway across the world — Ukraine, Poland, Italy, France and Bangladesh. And earlier this week, I visited the Port of Antwerp. I have seen first-hand how different countries and locations prepare for emergencies, depending on geopolitics or their geographical location.

Being prepared is different for every country. There is no “one size fits all”. I have exchanged ideas and best practices with local authorities and experts on the ground. These exchanges have contributed to making this Strategy concrete, targeted, and operational.

In the EU, we must think different because the threats are different. We must think bigger because the threats are bigger. This strategy does precisely that, setting out 30 concrete actions. We are getting everyone on board in every sector — from governments, institutions, and businesses to communities, citizens, and volunteers.

We already have strong crisis response tools, but we can no longer rely on ad hoc reactions. We must be on the front foot — more proactive, more coordinated, more systematic, detecting threats earlier and acting faster. That is why we are setting up a new EU Crisis Coordination Hub to coordinate better when a crisis hits. This Hub will build on the expertise of our Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) to better support Member States in managing today’s crises.

We are also beefing up our Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), our protective shield in times of emergency. It coordinates aid, mobilizes emergency teams, and delivers life-saving assistance when floods, wildfires, and other disasters strike. We have done it in Spain, Ireland, Mozambique, Mayotte, and just recently in North Macedonia with more than 50 burn victims of a nightclub fire being taken care of in EU hospitals. When we get the call, we go.

Requests for assistance have gone up over ten times since the UCPM started in the early 2000’s, and requests spiked during COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. We respond not only in Europe, but across the world, and for many different types of crises. Today our UCPM is more important than ever, and that is why we are making it even stronger.

In this new Strategy, we are also reinforcing rescEU — our European safety net. These strategic reserves help the EU respond to every type of emergency — with fire-fighting planes, stockpiles of vital medical, energy and transport equipment, and specialised assets against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. We will also propose an EU-wide stockpiling strategy to ensure access to critical resources across the EU. Our rescEU reinforces our capacities and provides teams of experts in emergencies.

The EU will also work with Member States to make sure people have essential supplies for at least 72-hours in a crisis. We are also getting more young people involved. Programs like Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps will help build a new generation — aware, trained, and ready to act in an emergency. Young people also have the know-how to spot misinformation. All of this will make our societies stronger and build trust in our democracies.

This is a once-in-a-generation moment for the security of Europe. Strengthening our preparedness will be an essential part of this. When we prepare together, we are safer together. Now it’s time to get to work and put it into action.

Source – EU Commission

(Work in progress)