EU on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism - Main contents

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

dossier	COM(2019)125 - Amendment of Decision 1313/2013/EU on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism.
document	COM(2019)125
date	March 7, 2019

(1) The Commission adopted a proposal ⁹ for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision No 1313/2013/EU on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism on 23 November 2017 ¹⁰ .

(2) The Commission proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision No 1313/2013/EU seeks to enhance the collective ability to prepare and respond to disasters by bolstering the possibilities offered by the European Civil Protection Pool. This involves establishing a reserve of civil protection capacities for use in Union operations (‘rescEU’) and strengthening the measures applicable in the field of prevention.

(3) Enhanced Union financing is necessary to be able to further develop the European Civil Protection Pool and cover additional costs stemming from adaptation grants and the operation of capacities committed to the European Civil Protection Pool.

(4) Adequate financial appropriations are required in order to establish, deploy and operate rescEU capacities.

(5) Decision No 1313/2013/EU sets out a financial envelope for the Union Mechanism that constitutes the prime reference amount intended to cover programme expenditure until the end of the 2014-2020 budgetary period.

(6) The financial envelope set out in Article 19 of Decision No 1313/2013/EU needs to be updated and replaced by the new figures provided for in the Commission’s proposal for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework ¹¹ .

(7) Pursuant to the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, financial appropriations for the Union Civil Protection Mechanism are under a new Heading 5 ‘Security and Defence’.

(8) Annex I to Decision No 1313/2013/EU is not flexible enough to allow the Union to properly adjust investments in prevention, preparedness and response. Investment levels to be allocated to the different phases of the disaster risk management cycle need to be determined in advance. This prevents the Union from being able to react to the unpredictable nature of disaster management.

(9) A new financial provision should replace the financial provisions of Decision No 1313/2013/EU which refer to the financial envelope of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism in accordance with the current multiannual financial framework (2014-2020). To align the financial envelope of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism with the figures proposed for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework , point (a) of Article 1(1) should apply from 1 January 2021.

(10) Decision No 1313/2013/EU should therefore be amended accordingly.