WRITTEN QUESTION E-2885/02

by Brice Hortefeux (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(14 October 2002)

Subject: Civil defence

With the end of the Cold War and the feeling that the threat of conflict has receded, countries in the West have considerably reduced their spending on civil defence. The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington showed up serious deficiencies in their arrangements

for defending the civilian population. Everything suggests at present that these deficiencies also exist in the EU Member States. Experts now consider that there is a real risk of terrorists using biological weapons, whence the importance of measures to protect the civilian population, particularly in Europe's large cities.

According to the report by George Gouvras, the head of the Task Force set up by the Commission following the attacks of 11 September, which was published last week, most of the EU Member States have neither vaccines nor appropriate strategies to respond to mass bioterrorist attacks using diseases such as smallpox.

Does the Commission take the view that adequate protection is provided for the civilian population in the European Union?

Do civil defence plans exist in the European Union and, if so, can the Commission give details of their content?

Does the Commission not consider that efforts should be stepped up in this area in the light of the events of 11 September?

Could the European Union not envisage drawing up a set of binding minimum civil defence requirements, particularly for Europe's large cities?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(12 November 2002)

As stated in Commission communication on Civil protection State of preventive alert against possible emergencies(1), governments at all levels have been prompted to re-consider how ready and able they are to prevent or mitigate the impact of these threats to our society in the aftermath of the unprecedented and tragic terrorist attacks in the United States of America (USA). The communication made a clear case for the need to improve Europe's capacity to respond to emergencies arising from biological or chemical terrorist attacks. It also set out the actions that the Commission intended to undertake across the range of Community policies to respond to the European Council's call at Ghent on 19 October 2001, addressed to the Council and the Commission, to prepare a programme to improve the co-operation between Member States in this area.

The Member States and the Commission have been working since to enhance preparedness and response to the new type of threat that constituted the bioterrorist attacks in the USA. In addition to national measures, measures at Union level and joint actions between the Commission and the Member States have been undertaken to improve the capacity and ability to deal with deliberate releases of biological, chemical and radio-nuclear substances to cause harm. Progress with this work and on-going activities have been presented in Commission communication on Civil protection Progress made in implementing the programme for preparedness for possible emergencies(2). The testing of emergency plans forms part of these activities.

In order to identify what initiatives are currently in place and those that may additionally be needed for the protection of the Union population against the consequences of terrorist biological, chemical and radio-nuclear threats and attacks, the Council and Commission are now working to prepare a joint programme which will be submitted to the forthcoming European Council in Copenhagen in December 2002.

(1) COM(2001) 707 final.

(2) COM(2002) 302 final.