Gold medal award for EU’s ERCC
The European Emergency Response Coordination Centre received the Spanish Gold Medal of Merit for Civil Protection for their response to the war in Ukraine.
The European Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) received the Spanish Gold Medal of Merit for Civil Protection on 10 February 2023, along with the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU), for their efforts to respond to the war in Ukraine.
Hans Das from the European Commission’s department for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) received the medal on behalf of the ERCC from the Spanish Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska in the presence of European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič.
The medal is the highest honour awarded in the Spanish civil protection system. It was awarded to the ERCC in recognition of "the impressive effort deployed by the ERCC in its coordination of the UCPM response to the Russian war on Ukraine" and more generally for the growing role of ERCC response coordination.
Director for Emergency Management and rescEU at ECHO, Hans Das dedicated the medal to all the colleagues working in and with the ERCC and paid tribute to DG ECHO's relentless work to make EU solidarity a reality for the many victims of the war in Ukraine and of disasters worldwide.
Commissioner Lenarčič also applauded the work of the ERCC team: "I would also like to pay tribute to the entire civil protection community in Spain, but also across the entire European Union. You go in when others are evacuating; you put your own lives at risk to save others. Thank you".
The assistance to Ukraine is the biggest and most innovative EU civil protection operation ever. So far the EU has provided Ukraine with a lifeline of more than 82 000 tons of supplies.
About the ERCC:
Based at the European Commission’s department for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) the ERCC is at the heart of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
Working 24/7, it coordinates the delivery of assistance to disaster-stricken countries, ensures the rapid deployment of emergency support and acts as a coordination hub between all EU Member States, the eight additional participating states, the affected country, and civil protection and humanitarian experts.