Conferentie Vilnius bespreekt civiele beschermingsstrategieën (en)

On 30 September - 2 October the 31st Meeting of the Directors-General for Civil Protection of the European Union, of the European Economic Area, and of the Candidate Countries will be organized, there about 80 participants will take part who will consist of the chiefs of civil protection services of the Member States and the representatives of the Commission.

During the meeting, the Commission will present the state of play of European civil protection cooperation and, together with the Presidency, update the Directors-General on the new civil protection legislation, and will also give an update on the Commission proposal for a revised Solidarity Fund Regulation.

The main issue in the agenda is the Solidarity Clause Implementation. In the 222 Article of the Treaty on the EU Activities it is foreseen that the Member States and the EU act in common and in solidarity if any of Member States suffers terror act, elemental disaster or man-made catastrophe. Emergencies arise not only inside but outside the EU as well. In order to ensure the coordination of the EU activities when providing assistance to other countries in 2010 the Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection was established. The mechanism of the solidarity clause implementation and operation is always discussed during the meetings of the Directors-General.

During the meeting in Vilnius, the following questions will be also discussed: the recent floods in Central-Europe, the role of the Emergency Response Centre in relation to disasters, developing the voluntary pool in the EU, the initiative of Lithuania on the Council Conclusions on mass evacuation in the event of disasters. Moreover, the experience will be shared on projects on prevention which are run in Member States, and the discussions will be centered on Member States international cooperation. The representatives of Lithuania for the participants of the meeting will present Cell Broadcast Technology in disaster management which has been implemented in the country.

In these latter years there is more attention given to the civil protection of the European Union because the amount of emergencies sometimes exceeds the capabilities of the country to suppress such kind of situations.