The story of rescEU began in 2017 when devastating forest fires ravaged Portugal, resulting in more than 100 casualties and destroying 540 000 hectares of woods and property. It was that year that the need for an additional layer of European emergency resources, specifically a deployment reserve, became evident. Thus, in 2019, rescEU was born.
While DG ECHO worked on launching the initiative, the world was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic. In Europe, Italy was the first to experience the pandemic at full-scale, activating the UCPM. This led to the inclusion of medical capacities under the rescEU framework in record time.
RescEU is an additional layer of the UCPM. This mechanism aims to strengthen cooperation between the EU Member States and participating states on civil protection to improve prevention, preparedness, and response to disasters. When disaster strikes, the ERCC ensures rapid deployment of emergency support and coordinates the response operations worldwide.
When response capacities are exhausted and the affected state is overwhelmed by a disaster, the additional layer – rescEU – is mobilised; from firefighting aircrafts and medical capacities, to capacities to address chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) incidents.
After its crucial responses to wildfires in both France and Greece, rescEU expanded to providing shelters for internally displaced people in the aftermath of the 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye. At the same time, rescEU capacities were also addressing the energy crisis triggered by Russia's war in Ukraine, facilitating the deployment of more than 2 100 rescEU generators to Ukraine and Moldova.
In five years, rescEU has been deployed 152 times, providing assistance to 35 countries.
Currently, ECHO is developing around 50 response capacities: strategic reserves of medical and CBRN items, shelters, power generators, as well as specialised capacities in the fields of CBRN, aerial medical evacuation, aerial forest firefighting, emergency medical teams, and multipurpose transport assets.
Lessons learnt so far have demonstrated that rescEU is a 'living organism' that adapts to new and emerging threats. ECHO uses scenario-planning to anticipate needs and develop new capacities. This enables a robust European collective preparedness for any emergency.
Looking back at the birth of rescEU, there is a continuing dire need to fight forest fires at European level. Last year, the Commission announced the purchase of new firefighting airplanes, Canadairs, to guarantee their permanent availability for deployment. With the support of the Commission, Member States are now in the process of purchasing these airplanes, and the first units are expected to become available by 2027.
To bridge the gap until these new aircrafts become available, the Commission finances the stand-by or leasing of existing aircraft during the summer months to ensure their availability for countries that may need assistance with fighting forest fires on their territory.
The story of rescEU continues, with dedicated people working hard to keep Europe as well prepared as possible for the next emergency.