The European Commission says that the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, following the passing of Depression Kristin, has not yet been requested. Since 2001, it has been activated more than 770 times inside and outside the EU, including for forest fires in Portugal.
The European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism could provide “a wide variety of support” in the face of the impact of such as dehumidifiers and generators, but has not yet been requested by the country, announced the European Commission.
“In fact, there was no new order for the activation of the civil protection mechanism. Naturally, in this case, it is up to the Portuguese authorities – because we are talking about Portugal, but it is about the Member States – evaluate the opportunity to request it“, said the main spokesperson for the community executive, Paula Pinho, at the institution’s daily press conference in Brussels.
On the same occasion, the institution’s spokesperson for the area of Crisis Management, Eva Hrncirova, pointed out that the mobilization of dehumidifiers and generators it is a “type of support that usually emerges after a storm”, highlighting however that the European Union (EU) Civil Protection Mechanism “can offer much more”.
“We are prepared to help countries in different types of crises. These can be temporary shelters, medical equipment, sanitation material. We are even providing some medical countermeasures in crisis situations when there are disease outbreaks, which is not the case in Portugal. I am just giving examples, as this can be a wide variety of support”, he listed.
According to Eva Hrncirova, “the country must specify exactly what the needs are“.
“We then coordinate with the other Member States and States participating in the mechanism and maintain constant contact with the country, because, naturally, needs may vary as the crisis evolves”, said the person in charge.
Any country in the world can request assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism when an emergency situation exceeds your disaster response capabilities.
The statements come after, on Monday, the community executive indicated that it had not yet received requests from Portugal to amend the Recovery and Resilience Plan in the regions affected by storm Kristin, or activate the European civil protection mechanism, instead urging the use of the solidarity fund
Civil Protection considers that it is “not justified” to activate the mechanism
On Monday, the president of Portuguese Civil Protection said that “it is not justified” to ask for help from the European civil protection mechanism to respond to the consequences of Storm Kristin, maintaining that it has rules and is not useful “to ask for tiles or tarpaulins”.
José Manuel Moura considered that “not justified at all”activate the European civil protection mechanism, as “Portugal has not yet exhausted its capacity” to respond to Storm Kristin.
“The mechanism has activation rules and specific equipment that we must activate. At this moment, all the situations that were requested have been met. We have no way of telling the European Union that we need this type or that. It wouldn’t be asking for tiles, it wouldn’t be asking for tarpaulins, these are materials that the country naturally has to be able to solve”, he said.
Today, the spokesperson for the community executive responsible for Cohesion and Reforms, Maciej Berestecki, recalled that, with regard to the EU Solidarity Fund, “the country has 12 weeks to submit its request”.
“However, it is important to know that recovery costs can be paid by this fund retroactively, from the first day after the disaster. Therefore, any costs that are currently being borne by the Portuguese authorities can later be reimbursed through the European Solidarity Fund”, he added.
According to Maciej Berestecki, the deadlines “will depend on the moment in which Portugal submits the request”which Brussels will evaluate and, if agreed, submit for approval by co-legislators (countries and MEPs).
Another option is to reprogram cohesion funds, which consists of changing current plans to face the challenges, with the Portuguese authorities being able to “propose changes to the Commission to respond to the damage caused by the storm”, concluded the spokesperson.
The EU Solidarity Fund supports Member States and candidate countries affected by major natural disasters.
The EU Civil Protection Mechanism coordinates the response to natural and man-made disasters at EU level.
Since 2001, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated more than 770 times inside and outside the EU, including for forest fires in Portugal.
