Over recent years, Europe has been confronted by complex and interconnected challenges and threats, both natural and man-made. These range from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the mounting impacts of the climate crisis, which have aggravated wildfires, heatwaves, and floods.

The consequences of these events are visible across our societies and economies, and national civil protection authorities and the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism are positioned on the frontline of responding to these crises. Based on these current challenges, the Commission must increase Europe’s resilience to disasters now more than ever.

Two things are clear: we must work together as a Union. An EU coordinated response – be it for a pandemic or a war – is stronger than the sum of individual Member States acting alone. Secondly, coordinated response is essential, but not enough. We need to be better prepared to act, before disasters strike.

Against this backdrop, the European Commission, together with Member States, have collectively devised five disaster resilience goals to steer our work in disaster prevention and preparedness, in line with the May 2021 revision of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism legislation.