EU helpt Grieken bij bestrijden bosbranden (en)

On 18 July 2007 Greece requested European civil protection assistance to help combat the forest fires raging throughout the country. The request triggered a rapid response from the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) of the European Commission. The MIC immediately alerted the civil protection authorities of the 30 countries participating in the Community Civil Protection Mechanism. France responded by making 2 Canadair aircraft available.

Commissioner for Environment, Stavros Dimas i, said: "European help is already on the way to reach Greece. Assistance provided by Member States through the Civil Protection Mechanism has once again proven that this is a community tool that works effectively. â€

Greece has turned to the European Union in its request for help following the terrible forest fires that have been ravaging the country over the past days. Greece requested in particular aerial means to fight the fires. The Community Mechanism for Civil Protection was activated on 18 July 2007 at 18:11 hours (Brussels time). In the morning of 19 July, France offered 2 Canadair aircraft through this mechanism. The MIC is also in contact with the German civil protection authorities to explore the possibility of making a German fire-fighting helicopter available.

This is the second Greek request for assistance to deal with this year's particularly extensive forest fires. On 27 June 2007 the European Community Civil Protection Mechanism (MIC) had received a first request from Greece for 4 Canadairs (fire-fighting water-carrying aircrafts) and 3 heavy-duty helicopters. That request triggered a particularly generous response from four Member States: Italy, France, Portugal and Spain all made fire-fighting aircraft available.

The Community Mechanism for Civil Protection

The Community Mechanism [1] aims to facilitate reinforced cooperation in civil protection assistance interventions. It ensures the coordination of assistance intervention in order to provide prompt support and to assist a country (inside and outside the European Union) in need of help. The main objective is to provide the best possible response and preparedness when a major emergency situation arises.

Such activities are coordinated by the Commission through the activation of its Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC), located in DG Environment, Civil Protection Unit.

30 states [2] participate in the Community Mechanism. These pool those resources that can be made available to disaster-stricken countries all over the world through this mechanism.

Since its creation, the Mechanism has been activated for a number of disasters worldwide, including the 2003 earthquake in Iran; the 2004 tsunami affected South East Asia; the 2005 forest fires in Portugal, flooding in Bulgaria and Romania, Hurricane Katrina in the US and the earthquake in Pakistan and more recently the earthquake in Indonesia and the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. The Commission has reviewed the efficiency of the Mechanism and through its proposals is seeking to improve upon it.

[1] Council Decision of 23 October (2001/792/EC, Euratom) (OJ L297, 15.11.2001, p.7)

[2] EU 25, Bulgaria, Romania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway