eunbil · GT0N1339 · 2006-05-31 00:00:00 — THE EUROPEAN UNION , 19 2006 PESC 461 "I/A" ITEM NOTE from : General to : / Council No. doc. : 9411/06 PROCIV 89 COSDP 367 JAI 254 PESC 452 + COR 1 Subject : Adoption of Council conclusions on reinforcing Union"s emergency and crisis response capacities and on endorsing the manual on EU emergency and crisis coordination Delegations will find in the draft Council conclusions on reinforcing Union"s emergency and crisis response capacities and on endorsing the manual on EU emergency and crisis coordination, as agreed by the Working Party on Civil Protection on the basis of a draft submitted by the Presidency. It is suggested that propose that the Council adopt these conclusions at one of its forthcoming meetings. COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS ON REINFORCING THE EUROPEAN UNIONS EMERGENCY AND CRISIS RESPONSE CAPACITIES AND ON ENDORSING THE MANUAL ON EU EMERGENCY AND CRISIS COORDINATION Helping citizens in an emergency, crisis or disaster, whether natural or man-made, requires effective delivery of assistance where and when it is needed. Member States are responsible for managing emergencies, crises or disasters on their territory and determining whether they require any outside assistance. However, many major risks inside and outside Union could affect one or more Member States or engage the whole European Union. In such circumstances, support may be needed from other Member States and EU structures. In addressing such situations, Member States are able to draw on existing EU mechanisms managed by the Commission, in particular the Civil Protection Monitoring and in the Commission, as well as the in the Council Secretariat. Following the remits given by point 2.4 of the Hague Programme of on strengthening freedom, security and in Union , the Declaration of 13 2005 on the EU response to the bombings and Coreper of 18 January 2006 , the Council agrees to take the following further steps to ensure that the Union can react more effectively and lend assistance when major emergencies occur inside or outside the Union: endorses the operational EU emergency and crisis coordination manual drawn up by the Presidency in close cooperation with the Commission and the Council Secretariat. This manual sets out two strands of work: Firstly, the manual contains internal arrangements for political coordination in for major emergencies inside or outside Union. These generic arrangements do not duplicate or supplant existing networks or rapid alert systems; they will help deliver a better coordinated EU response and fill any gaps by providing input for coordinated action or decisions by COREPER or the Council. The manual will be updated by the forthcoming Presidencies in cooperation with the Council Secretariat, the Commission and the Member States in the light of tests to be undertaken shortly after adoption, experience and practice. Secondly, the manual pre-identifies /7 contact points in Member States which could be called upon in the event of coordinated terrorist attacks or an influenza pandemic. It is the purpose, in the medium term, to identify the relevant national contact points for all kinds of emergency and crisis situations. Moreover, the manual contains an overview of operational networks and emergency support which may help to coordinate or assist Member States in handling emergency and crisis situations. encourages the Presidency, the Council Secretariat and the Commission to further develop the manual drawing on best practices under existing bilateral and multilateral arrangements and identifying gaps to be filled. A progress report should be presented to the Council by 30 2007. invites Member States to put in place the necessary internal structures to ensure that they are in a position to respond rapidly to all requests for assistance in relation to all types of emergencies or crises. In doing so, Member States should consider whether a single national contact point for the coordination of all emergency or crisis situations would ensure greater effectiveness. Furthermore, the Council also takes note of the contribution of civil protection to reinforcing the EU"s emergency and crisis response capacities and welcomes in particular the progress on the Commissions proposals on establishing a rapid response and preparedness instrument and on the recast of the Community"s civil protection mechanism. intends to work towards the adoption of both proposals by the end of 2006 in order to help reinforce Unions crisis response capability inside and outside Union. It is highlighted that the above actions of civil protection are to be regarded as a contribution to the implementation of the Action Plan which called for the development of a European Union rapid response capability. They are complemented by ongoing work on the General for the use of Member States" military or military chartered transportation assets and ESDP coordination tools in support of EU disaster response as well as on an improved European consular cooperation. 16054/04. 11158/1/05. 5228/06. 9497/06 TW/jm DG I EN 9497/06 TW/jm EN