Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen attended a meeting on EU civil preparedness and resilience in Brussels, Belgium, on 22 May. The aim of the meeting, convened by the Netherlands, was to launch a ministerial-level coalition to promote preparedness in the EU. The need for the coalition arises from the current geopolitical situation and the Preparedness Union Strategy published by the Commission in March.
The Preparedness Union Strategy is an EU plan aimed at strengthening the ability of the Union and its Member States to prepare for and respond to crises.
“The Preparedness Union is being launched on Finland's initiative. The new strategy largely meets our goals, but the real work starts now. The Member States need to show determination to put the Preparedness Union Strategy into swift action,” says Minister Rantanen.
While each Member State continues to be responsible for its own preparedness, Europe as a whole will be stronger when measures are coordinated. The meeting discussed ways to strengthen civil preparedness and resilience in individual Member States and the EU as a whole. The ministers will discuss their conclusions with Commissioner Hadja Lahbib.
The meeting was attended by ministers responsible for preparedness from Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Sweden and Estonia. At the meeting, the ministers issued a joint statement in which they committed themselves to working together to implement the Preparedness Union Strategy. Denmark, the next country to hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU, attended the meeting as an observer.
The EU and NATO protect people and society
Before the meeting on Thursday, the ministers also met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Brussels. The meeting focused on strengthening resilience cooperation between the EU and NATO.
“The foundation for everything is the EU and NATO having a shared understanding of the situation and the threats. In future, security thinking must be incorporated into all EU measures,” Minister Rantanen says.
“Military and civilian authorities both have the same objective: to protect our people and societies. However, the division of responsibilities between the EU and NATO needs to be clarified. Both have their own strengths that we must make use of,” Rantanen says.
Inquiries: Laura Yli-Vakkuri, Director General, tel. +358 040 720 2216, firstname.lastname@gov.fi
