EU governments will be expected to develop a 72-hour survival kit for citizens to face new crises, the European Commission said on Wednesday (26 March), as it set out plans for EU wide stockpiling strategy for food and medical supplies.
The proposal is part of the Commission’s Preparedness Union Strategy which also calls for more stockpiling of essential supplies and for improved civilian-military cooperation.
As well as food and medicines, stockpiling by governments should include critical raw materials so that industrial production or strategic equipment can continue, plus energy equipment.
Though Hadja Lahbib, the commissioner for preparedness and crisis management, pointed to Russia’s war against Ukraine as a case where “our European security is directly affected”, she pointed to a series of other hybrid threats such as cyberattacks and “battlefields” that “are being weaponised to threaten our European way of life.”
“Today’s threats facing Europe are more complex than ever and they are all inter-connected,” added Lahbib.
Although most spheres of crisis management policy are the responsibility of national governments, the EU Commission believes it can play a useful coordinating role.
The preparedness strategy is the latest of a series of initiatives aimed at improving the EU’s capacity to respond to crises.
As well as creating an EU crisis co-ordination hub to help member states, the commission also wants to beef up the EU’s civil protection mechanism (EUCPM), which was set up in 2001 and allows states to request emergency assistance in case of natural disasters such as floods and wildfires, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine.
Lahbib said that requests for the EUCPM have increased ten-fold since its creation.
The strategy also calls for more cooperation between civilian and military authorities to deal with “complex threats like hybrid warfare, cyberattacks, and potential armed aggression”.
Earlier this month, the EU executive unveiled new plans to guarantee critical medicine supplies in a bid to protect the bloc from shortages. The EU’s vulnerability to health emergencies was exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic which prompted the commission to organise joint procurement of vaccines and personal protective equipment.
On Tuesday, meanwhile, the commission set out plans to provide €2bn to help finance 47 projects to slash the EU’s dependence on critical raw materials and minerals from outside the bloc.
“The Covid pandemic has shown that the added value of acting together in the EU framework is absolutely crucial,” said commission vice president Roxana Minzatu.
Minzatu added that the commission’s proposal was aimed at “exiting a reactive responsive mindset and entering a mindset that is about forecasting, anticipating risks, about preparation and, in the end, about crisis management”.
The preparedness strategy was one of Ursula von der Leyen commission’s promises for the first 100 days of its second mandate.
“This is a once in a generation moment for the security of Europe, strengthening our preparedness is an essential part of this,” said Lahbib.
Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.