Civil protection: Community action programme 1998-1999

In its Opinion, the Committee of the Regions welcomed the Commission’s proposal for an action programme and wholly supported its objectives. The Opinion drew a distinction between civil protection and disaster rescue. As regards the allocation of funding, a further distinction had to be made between the local and regional level on the one hand, and the supra-regional level on the other. The action programme should concentrate on the supra-regional or inter-regional aspects of civil protection. The Opinion recommended that Community resources be provided for supra-regional measures. It also put forward a number of recommendations to improve the efficiency of such cooperation in practice. As disasters rarely required supra-regional assistance, there was little mention of the EU’s experience in areas such as communication or intervention. The rapporteur suggested that the programme should give priority to reciprocal training in the various methods used in the Member States, by both the authorities and the rescue services. The specific amendments related to: - the involvement of rescue services in the action programme; - increased reaction speeds through the improvement of the communication.