Activites

• 2007/12/01 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Decision 2007/779
  • OJ L 314 01.12.2007, p. 0009
• #2827
• 2007/11/08 Council Meeting
• 2007/11/08 End of procedure in Parliament
• 2007/11/08 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• #2807
• 2007/06/12 Council Meeting
• 2006/10/24 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0434/2006 summary

    The European Parliament adopted the report drafted by Dimitrios Papadimoulis (GUE/NGL, EL) by 573 votes in favour to 25 against with 35 abstentions and made several amendments to the proposal. The key ones are as follows;- military assets and capabilities may, as a last resort, be made available by Member States on a voluntary basis to support civil protection in a supplementary and supportive role;- Parliament stressed the importance of informing and alerting populations in disaster-prone zones through the use of common EU-wide signals and procedures;- actions under the mechanism should include the identification of best practices to raise citizens' awareness and dissemination to the public of information on safety behaviours in the event of major risks. They should also include the establishment of arrangements for facilitating and supporting assistance to EU citizens in emergencies in third countries, and the identification of best practices for dealing with emergencies, crises and disasters, and the production of a Community civil protection manual geared to the needs and specific characteristics of the Member States;- Parliament inserted a series of terms and definitions to be used for the purposes of the decision. These include "major emergency", "preparedness", "early warning", "rapid response", and "intervention module";- a new clause states that, in the event of a major emergency occurring outside the Community, the use of military assets and capabilities available to support civil protection shall be fully consistent with the UN Guidelines;- additional transport means and logistical support must be established through appropriate international public tendering procedures on the basis of existing EU public procurement legislation without the application of the "security" exception clause;- the Commission will, in cooperation with the Member States, take structural measures to ensure the coordination and integration of early warning, alert and response systems for the benefit of the Member States and the MIC, as well as coordination with other Community networks, specialised centres and/or agencies competent in civil protection matters.A series of additional recitals inserted by Parliament gave guidance on the use of the civil protection mechanism. In particular, Parliament stated that:- the public health dimension of all civil protection interventions should be included in the scope of the Decision, bearing in mind that all disasters affect people both physically and psychologically, which puts a heavy burden on health and social security systems for a considerable time once the intervention phase is over;- the setting up of instruments in the area of civil protection should primarily benefit the affected citizens after the disaster has occurred. Such benefits should be made visible and measurable so as to convey a strong message of solidarity of the Member States;- land management and land use are an important part of policies and plans for the prevention and mitigation of disasters. Therefore, plans and policies should implement integrated environmental and natural resource management approaches that incorporate disaster risk reduction;- the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) system, which supports the development of European policy on the environment and security and helps to monitor its implementation at local, regional, Community and world level, should be systematically used. Given the strategic importance of earth observation in the environmental and security fields, the deadlines set by the Göteborg European Council of 15 and 16 June 2001 should be adhered to and an independent and operational European global monitoring capacity should be developed by 2008 at the latest.

• 2006/10/23 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2006/09/19 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
  • A6-0286/2006
• 2006/09/13 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2006/03/14 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2006/01/26 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2006)0029 summary

    PURPOSE:  the establishment of a Community civil protection mechanism.PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.CONTENT: the Community civil protection mechanism was established in 2001 with the sole purpose of supporting the mobilisation and co-ordination of civil protection assistance in the event of a major emergency taking place either inside or outside of the EU. In light of increased emergencies since 2001 there is a growing recognition on the need to develop the mechanisms beyond its current mandate. Thus the main objective of the proposed Council Decision is to strengthen the mechanism and to provide a legal basis for additional Community actions in the field of civil protection. The present proposal takes account of Parliamentary declarations on this matter as well as European Council Conclusions. Taken together the various declarations set out a clear orientation for future civil protection co-operation across the EU.The Commission points out that in the past three years there has been a considerable growth in the number of countries calling upon the mechanism for immediate civil protection assistance. In the first ten months of 2005, for example, more than ten countries requested assistance through the mechanism. These include EU Member States, EU partner countries, candidate countries, developing countries and some of the world’s most affluent nations. They have all sought help through the mechanism in order to help them respond to disasters beyond the capacity of their national authorities.Currently, two legal instruments exist in the field of civil protection. The first, a Council Decision, establishing an action programme and which is accompanied by multi-annual specific budgets. The second, Council Decision 2001/792 establishing a Community mechanism to facilitate reinforced co-operation in civil protection assistance interventions. This instrument has no financial nature; focusing instead on operational obligations. The present proposal amends this Decision to allow for improved co-operation and co-ordination. In summary, the main elements of the proposal are as follows:-          To recast Council Decision 2001/792, Euratom. It incorporates in a single text both the substantive amendments made to Decision 2001/792 and the unchanged provisions thereof. The proposal will replace and repeal Decision 2001/792 and will help make Community legislation more accessible and transparent.-          In the field of transport, an area currently creating considerable problems for the co-ordination of civil protection, the Commission is proposing a policy of closer co-operation. Community support – both financial and practical – for the transport of civil protection assistance will result in more assistance being made available. In addition, it will help reassure each Member State that it can count on Community civil protection assistance, even if the transport means of the other Member States are exhausted, insufficient or unavailable. The key new principles being introduced by the present proposal are firstly, that the transport of national civil protection assistance remains the primary responsibility of each participating country. Secondly, and where possible, that the Member States should attempt to share their transport resources to ensure rapid delivery. Thirdly and lastly, Community financing should be used as a safety net when national transport is not available, insufficient or not able to deliver effectively. Detailed rules on the mobilisation of additional transport means will be estimated in accordance with procedures laid down in Article 13.-          In terms of developing a European rapid reaction capability, the present proposal introduces four innovations. Firstly, it confirms arrangements agreed by the Council in May 2004 on adopting the modalities for making the content of military databases open to the civil protection mechanism. As such the Commission, though this proposal, is requesting that the Member States include information on the availability of military means in response to the request for assistance. Secondly, to call upon the Member States to work towards the development of civil protection modules. These modules specify pre-defined arrangements as well as the kind of resources capable of a rapid response in the event of a civil disaster. They can consist of equipment, personnel or a combination of both. They need to be fully inter-operable, rapidly deployable and equipped to either perform support functions or to meet the priority needs arising from emergencies. Thirdly, the need for further action in the field of logistics. This is to be done through the support modules, which will consist of Member States’ resources, to be dispatched in consultation with the Commission. Fourthly, to provide a framework for a new policy which enables the Community to complement Member Stats’ assistance with additional support and means in a cost efficient way. This support will seek to provide assistance that can not be obtained from the participating countries. It could, for example, consist of hiring, on a temporary basis, specific equipment such as medevac aircraft, high capacity pumps for floods, fire fighting aircraft for forest fires etc.-          On the matter of early warning, the Commission states that its main objective is to protect European citizens from the effects of major disasters by assessing, and where necessary upgrading, existing early warning systems, better linking detection systems to alert mechanisms, identifying synergies between different systems and linking them for easy access to decision-makers.-          On the question of co-ordinating actions in third countries, the present proposal seeks to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Member State holding the Presidency of the European Union, the civil protection co-ordination team on site and the Commission.FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: the proposal has no implications on the Community budget.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/environment/', 'title': 'Environment'}, DIMAS Stavros

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2006)0029
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A6-0286/2006
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0434/2006
• : Decision 2007/779
• : OJ L 314 01.12.2007, p. 0009

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)