Strengthening EU disaster prevention, preparedness and response

KEY POINTS

Objectives

The mechanism’s main objective is to improve the effectiveness of systems for preventing, preparing for and responding to natural and human-induced disasters of all kinds within and outside the EU. Although its focus is on protecting people, it also covers the environment and property, including natural heritage.

The mechanism’s specific objectives are to:

• achieve a high level of protection against disasters by:
  • preventing or reducing their potential effects,
  • fostering a culture of prevention, and
  • improving cooperation between civil protection and other relevant services;
• enhance preparedness at both the national and the EU level to respond to disasters;
• facilitate rapid and efficient response in the event of disasters or imminent disasters, including by taking measures to mitigate the immediate consequences of disasters;
• increase public awareness of and preparedness for disasters;
• increase the availability and use of scientific knowledge on disasters; and
• step up cooperation and coordination activities at the cross-border level and between Member States prone to the same types of disasters.

Risk prevention and management

Disaster prevention is a major focus of the mechanism, with particular emphasis placed on risk assessment and risk-management planning. Decision No 1313/2013/EU as amended by Decision (EU) 2019/420 requires Member States to:

• further develop the assessment of risk-management capability at the national or the appropriate subnational level;
• provide the European Commission with a summary of the relevant elements of the assessment, focusing on key risks, every 3 years;
• participate, on a voluntary basis, in peer reviews of the assessment of risk-management capability.

As set out in the amending Regulation (EU) 2021/836, the Commission, together with the Member States, will define and develop EU disaster resilience goals. These non-binding goals will be set out in Commission recommendations and will be based on scenarios using current situations and prospective scenarios, taking into account data on past events and the effects of climate change on disaster risks.

Union civil protection knowledge network

To improve training and knowledge-sharing, the amending Decision (EU) 2019/420 requires the Commission to set up a network of relevant civil protection and disaster management researchers, bodies and institutions, including centres of excellence and universities. These will form, together with the Commission, a Union civil protection knowledge network.

On 10 November 2021, the Commission formally established the knowledge network (Implementing Decision 2021/1956). The implementing decision lays out the governance structure of the knowledge network and its way of operating. The knowledge network governance structure is composed of a board and two pillars of working groups (capacity development and science). The secretariat is provided by the Commission.

The Commission is also required to:

• strengthen cooperation on training and the sharing of knowledge and experience between the Union civil protection knowledge network, international organisations and non-EU countries;
• develop a communication strategy to make the results of measures taken under the mechanism visible to citizens; and
• award medals to recognise and honour long-standing commitments and extraordinary contributions to the mechanism.

Emergency Response Coordination Centre(ERCC)

To enhance preparedness for and response to disasters at the EU level, there is a 24/7 ERCC managed by the Commission in Brussels. The ERCC is a coordination hub and the operational arm of the mechanism.

Additional tools include:

• the common emergency communication and information system, an IT tool allowing for immediate emergency communication among the participating countries;
• exercises and a training programme to improve Member States’ disaster response capacity and coordination of civil protection assistance;
• civil protection modules, which are units of personnel and equipment that are ready to be mobilised;
• the European civil protection pool, which is a voluntary pool of pre-committed Member States’ disaster response resources, ready to be mobilised for EU civil protection operations. This includes high-quality modules of relief teams, experts and equipment, and higher rates of EU co-financing.

Amending Regulation (EU) 2021/836 provides the ERCC with enhanced operational, analytical, monitoring, information management and communication capabilities.

rescEU

Amending Decision (EU) 2019/420 also establishes rescEU, an additional pool of resources to provide assistance in situations where the overall existing resources at the national level and the resources previously allocated by Member States to the European civil protection pool are insufficient to ensure an effective response.

The initial composition of rescEU in terms of resources and quality requirements was set out by Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570 rescEU initially consisted of resources for:

• aerial forest firefighting;
• medical aerial evacuation;
• emergency medical teams; and
• medical stockpiling.

Its scope has subsequently been expanded to cover stockpiling, decontamination in the area of CBRN incidents and transport and logistics resources (see below).

Amending Regulation (EU) 2021/836 introduced the possibility for the Commission to directly procure rescEU resources in the area of transport and logistics and other resources (only in duly justified cases of urgency). rescEU resources are fully funded by the Commission.

By means of implementing acts, the Commission defines rescEU resources, taking into account:

• identified and emerging risks; and
• overall resources and gaps at EU level, in particular in the areas of:
  • aerial forest firefighting,
  • CBRN incidents,
  • emergency medical response, and
  • transport and logistics.

The Commission has amended Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570 eight times.

• Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1930 provides for two different types of medical evacuation resources, respectively for:
  • disaster victims with highly infectious diseases; and
  • disaster victims with non-infectious diseases.
• Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/414, in response to the Council of the European Union’s conclusions on COVID-19, adds the stockpiling of medical countermeasures, medical intensive care equipment and personal protective equipment aimed at combating serious cross-border threats to health to rescEU’s responsibilities.
• Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/452 establishes rescEU resources to manage low-probability risks with a high impact. To establish these resources, the categories of low-probability risks with a high impact are defined, taking into account the possible scenarios for such risks.
• Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/88 amends Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570, extending its scope to include in rescEU’s responsibilities the decontamination from CBRN agents of infrastructure, buildings, vehicles, equipment and critical evidence. This responsibility may also include the appropriate decontamination of affected persons, including fatalities.
• Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/288 amends Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570, extending its scope to cover temporary shelter facilities and emergency medical teams as part of the rescEU reserve.
• Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/461 amends Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570, extending its scope to cover transport and logistics resources as part of the rescEU reserve.
• Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/465 amends Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570, extending its scope to cover mobile laboratory facilities along with CBRN detection, sampling, identification and monitoring resources as part of the rescEU reserve.
• Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1198 amends Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570, in response to the vulnerability of energy-related critical infrastructure exposed by the war in Ukraine, by incorporating emergency energy supply resources as part of the rescEU reserve.

Further implementing rules for rescEU are laid down in Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1310. This implementing act lays down all the rules needed for a rescEU operation, such as the criteria for deployment and conflicting requests, rules on demobilisation and rules on national use.

Budget

• Just over €574.02 million was allocated for the implementation of the mechanism for the period 2014–2020.
• The funding has increased substantially for the period 2021–2027, with an allocation of €1.26 billion in addition to an amount of up to €2.06 billion for the civil-protection-related measures addressing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis envisaged in the EU Recovery Instrument (see summary).

Participation

Participation in the mechanism and the various tools listed above is open to European Economic Area countries, acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidate countries. In addition to the Member States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey participate in the mechanism.

Other

On 5 May 2022, the Commission adopted Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/706, which lays down the criteria and procedures for awarding medals in order to recognise long-standing commitment and extraordinary contributions to the mechanism. The implementing act envisages two types of medals, one for long-standing commitment and one for extraordinary contribution, while the scope of the award covers the activities of the entire disaster management cycle. The medals will be awarded at the European Civil Protection Forum or at other formal ceremonies on an ad hoc basis.