During the plenary session (11-14 February 2019) of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs vote an upgrade of the EU’s civil defence mechanism, tested to its limits in 2017 and 2018 by forest fires, storms and floods. The new law will help member states to respond faster and more effectively to natural and man-made disasters, by sharing civil protection assets more efficiently. Statements by Elisabetta GARDINI (EPP, IT), rapporteur, Christos STYLIANIDES, Member of the EC in charge of Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, and José Manuel FERNANDES (EPP, PT).

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

STYLIANIDES, Christos (CY, EC)

GARDINI, Elisabetta (ECR, IT)

civil protection mechanism (T)

FERNANDES, José Manuel (EPP, PT)

Union Civil Protection Mechanism: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Elisabetta GARDINI (EPP, IT), rapporteur, This is very distant from the citizens however, who according to Eurobarometer continue to want civil protection and they want the EU alongside them whenever they face disaster, as their local and national authorities cannot cope with alone. Experience has shown us that's the way it is. Unfortunately, with the summer fires in Portugal and Greece where we have suffered the loss of hundreds of human lives alongside huge economic damage, we've seen that Europe did not have a civil protection mechanism and wasn't capable of tackling simultaneously a number of disasters.

SOUNDBITE (English), Christos STYLIANIDES, Member of the EC in charge of Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Our proposal, these proposals, would strengthen our European Union Civil Protection mechanism and today after one year the parliament is voting for the most ambitious European Civil Protection system that ever existed. Today the Parliament is voting for something that was really politically unthinkable a few years ago. And among friends I have to be frank , it was really very difficult job and demanding job to persuade our member states to accept these upgrades. But at the end of the day we manage together these really very ambitious common purpose. So today I'm really proud of being European, a European citizen.

SOUNDBITE (English), Christos STYLIANIDES, Member of the EC in charge of Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Today, modestly, we mark the beginning of a new era for European civil protection. This is about Europe that protects we own - as I said - thise to our citizens. And the I would like to conclude, saying once again, that we should all be proud of this achievement.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Jos&#233; Manuel FERNANDES (EPP, PT), So what we have set up now shows solidarity of the European Union towards our citizens and member states it's not the only solution but in certain areas the Civil Protection actually is. We can actually increase sovereignty so we shouldn't be worried about losing sovereignty in member states. The member states are focusing on protection and prevention and preparedness, and this must continue. There are ministers of finance however that were not over the moon about this agreement. We're talking about 200 million euros. They contested that this was a ridiculous amount of money between now and 2020. We can only underline again and again how important this mechanism is.