The French Directorate General for Civil Protection and Crisis Management - European and International Relations Unit has designed and organised its first liaison officer training course for hosting foreign modules.
The Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) introduced the practice of attaching a liaison officer from ECHO headquarters to EU civil protection expert teams during disaster responses. Liaison officers are often pre-deployed to establish contact with national authorities and facilitate information exchange.
Their roles are adapted to each situation based on factors such as language and regional expertise. This practice is increasingly adopted by Member States, with various training initiatives underway.
The French Directorate General for Civil Protection and Crisis Management European and International Relations unit (DGSCGC – MREI), has designed and organised its first liaison officer training course for hosting foreign modules. The course was held at the French National Fire Officers Academy (ENSOSP) in Aix-en-Provence.
15 fire officers participated in a week of training, during which they received a common base of knowledge on:
These officers now constitute the first pool of French liaison officers able to be deployed by the Interministerial Crisis Management Operational Centre (COGIC) to support the fire and rescue services or prefectures called upon to receive international aid for support or relief operations.
A second course is due to be organised in the coming months and will be open to observers from member and participating states interested in implementing such training. For further information: contact-mrei@interieur.gouv.fr.
The DGSCGC - MREI has also recently launched a newsletter to inform French UCPM experts about relevant UCPM developments of interest.
Since 2022, France has benefited from the activation of the UCPM on three occasions: in the South-West for forest fires and in the North for floods.
The reception, coordination and management of these reinforcements (personnel and modules) are based on specific structures and procedures implemented under the EU Host Nation Support (HNS) guidelines), modelled at European and international levels by the UCPM and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The work undertaken, various studies and feedback from exercises and operations have enabled the European and International Relations unit to initiate the transposition of existing guidelines into standard procedures. This was done in conjunction with the Doctrine, Training, and Equipment Office (BDFE), with the support of instructors from various civil protection response organisations, including the Lyon Metropolitan Fire and Rescue Department - SDMIS, the Bouches-du-Rhône Fire and Rescue Department - SDIS 13, the Landes Fire and Rescue Department - SDIS 40, the Directorate-General of Customs and Excise - DGDDI and ENSOSP, who set up the first training course.
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