EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/32

(2004/C 84 E/0036)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2624/03

by Michel-Ange Scarbonchi (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(2 September 2003)

Subject: Establishment of a European civil protection corps

The fires which recently swept through Europe, destroying several thousand hectares of vegetation, highlighted the chronic lack of forest fire prevention and control resources. The Commission must respond to such disasters with the utmost urgency.

While the existence of a European civil protection centre in which the EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein are involved and the setting up on 18 August 2002 of a European Solidarity Fund are a cause for some hope, given the devastating impact which fires have on the communities and local councils concerned and the damage they cause to the environment and economic activities such as forestry and tourism, fire-fighting resources need to be stepped up and new prevention and intervention rules need to be laid down at European level.

The management of forests and other natural resources, which cover 60 million hectares in 25 countries in the Mediterranean area, must remain an economic and social priority. The establishment of a European civil protection corps would enable such disasters to be dealt with more effectively.

There are many arguments in favour of a new administrative and technical entity, which could be placed under the supervision of the European Parliament and under the responsibility of the competent national authorities, given that civil protection falls within the sphere of responsibility of the Member States.

In the run-up to the forthcoming enlargement, this would send out a strong signal in support of European forests. What are the Council's views on this proposal? Can it take action in support of the establishment of a European civil protection corps?

Reply

(8 March 2004)

1. The Council fully shares the regrets of the Honourable Parliamentarian about the large forest fires that devastated tens of thousands of hectares of woodland in Spain, France and Italy, and especially in Portugal, in summer 2003. To this extent, the Council notes that the fires gave rise to unprecedented manifestations of concrete solidarity amongst the Member States.

2. As far as the setting up of a European civil protection corps for the purpose of forest protection, the Council recalls that it is in principle for the Member States to take appropriate measures.

3. Nevertheless at Community level, actions have been undertaken: First, in the framework of the common agricultural policy the Council has adopted regulation 2158/92 in order to provide for a Community contribution to the protection of forests against fire. Also, like the Honourable Parliamentarian, the Council recognises the positive role of the Commission's Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) established under the Council Decision on a Community Civil Protection Mechanism (1) in contributing to mobilising the assets for these interventions. In that framework, the Member States have already identified Civil Protection capabilities that may be provided on a case by case basis. These capabilities include intervention teams and assessment coordination teams that are trained in common (2). Given the current limitations of this centre in facing emergencies of exceptional magnitude, the Council welcomes the Commission's intention to further develop its capabilities for dealing with natural and technological disasters and, in particular, to update the Mechanism's database of civil protection resources regarding available fire-fighting capabilities. Finally, Parliament and Council have adopted a decision and an amending budget with a view to mobilising, for allocation to Portugal (fires), an amount of EUR 48,539 million from the European Solidarity Fund. In addition, the Commission is expected to submit, in the forthcoming months, a communication on a common approach for the evaluation, prevention and consequence management of natural and man-made risks. As indicated above, work in the Council is being undertaken with a view to improving the present state of play.

(1) Council Decision 2001/792 EC, Euratom of 23 October 2001 establishing a Community mechanism to facilitate cooperation in civil protection assistance interventions, OJ L 297, 15.11.2001, p. 7.

(2) Docs 11625/03 PE-QE 336 and 5657/2/03 OE-HQ 24 REV 2.