Joint ENVI-SANT exchange of views with EU Commissioner Hadja Lahbib

Bruxelles (eu24news) – Europe is confronted with a growing range of threats arising from environmental, health and climate challenges. Today, Environment, Climate and Food Safety (ENVI) and Public Health (SANT) Members held an change of views with the Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, on the proposal for a new Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM)  and on the funding of civil protection and emergency preparedness under the next MFF.
The proposed Regulation builds on existing legal frameworks on the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and the EU4Health Programme for the Union’s action in the field of health, with reference to the period 2021-2027. “We must strengthen our ability to predict risks; we are strengthening early warning systems to be able to respond based on forecasts and avoid disasters. When national systems are insufficient, European systems must intervene rapidly and flexibly, while maintaining dialogue with military partners. We must strengthen the exchange of more innovative and better-prepared experts to strengthen volunteer teams” stated the EU Commissioner Lahbib. During the exchange of views with MEPs, she announced that next year she will propose a Global Health Resilience Initiative to the Commission and clarified that this proposal will not change the European Union’s health architecture, nor the coordination mechanisms strengthened since the COVID-19 pandemic, but it will strengthen regional and local partnerships and preparedness capacities. According to Lahbib, “Health preparedness also means supporting innovation from the laboratory to the market and strengthening industrial capacities for medical countermeasures”. Within this framework, “the European Competitiveness Fund and the Horizon Programme will play a key role, and they will maintain research excellence in Europe, because life-saving products must be produced in Europe”, the EU Commissioner concluded.
Hadjpantela MEP (EPP Group) pointed out that, during the summer of 2015, much of Europe — including Cyprus — was hit by severe fires that destroyed not only lives but also much of nature. “Protection tools for citizens’ forests and infrastructure must also be strengthened”, he said. He asks to the EU commissioner if there are any concrete measures planned to ensure that the UCPM is sufficient for the whole of Europe to effectively address the extreme events that “will take place during the next financial programme period”.
Pajin MEP (S&D Group) welcoming the proposal to strengthen the Civil Protection Mechanism, highlighted that her region in Spain have seen the most devastating floods and fires in Europe in recent years, events that “have put in evidence three key points: the importance of political responsibility, the UMCP is essential for responding to emergencies, and protecting the UCPM’s activities requires significant funding”. She concluded by expressing concern about the proposed financial framework which “eliminates and reduces instruments such as territorial cohesion”.
“The European Union needs realistic policies that listen to the local communities: this is a prerequisite for true sustainability and effective crisis management” said De La Pisa Carrion (Patriots for Europe Group). In this view, she asked, “whether the Commission would encourage a change in approach that restores local communities’ ability to manage the world they live in, or whether it will continue to maintain a bureaucratic system that, in the name of ecology, endangers the safety of our citizens”.
EP Vice-President and ECR MEP, Sberna, welcomed the need to review the rules underlying the European Union’s civil protection management and financing mechanism. She pointed out that Italy has always been a European model for crisis management. “In recent years, including through the Civil Protection Department, Italy has focused on implementing the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to fight geological instability and strengthen civil protection infrastructure”, she said. The proposed Regulation calls for the establishment of a crisis coordination hub. Sberna asked the EU Commissioner how the hub would function, how it would connect with the Emergency Response Coordination Center and what kind of benefits it would bring to Member States. The proposal also highlights a close integration between military and civilian capabilities in dealing with emergencies. EP Vice-President asked whether this increased cooperation would lead to a burden on the governance system. Lastly, “the synergy between funds and the possibility of integrating the financial allocation with other instruments such as Horizon Programme are positive”, Sberna said and she asked, “which synergies can be implemented in the least bureaucratic manner possible, given the diversity of the programmes”.
“Thank you for this proposal for a more ambitious budget, which, however, it remains insufficient, said Metz MEP (Greens Group). According to Metz, when it comes to the UMCP strategy, prevention and preparedness must be strengthened. “This year’s UMCP should focus on prevention, but also on responding to threats and disasters, and addressing the root causes of climate change and disasters. This is why we must invest in resilience, not just emergency response”, she said. “The UMCP – she continued – must be designed to incentivize prevention, only with the involvement of all departments, governments, and authorities will we be able to protect European citizens”.

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