EU Parliament committees have backed plans to expand the EU’s civil protection mechanism for 2028 to 2034, including higher funding and a stronger focus on anticipating disasters and health emergencies.
Members of the European Parliament on the Environment and Public Health committees adopted their position on the next phase of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) on Thursday.
The UCPM is the EU’s main tool for helping countries hit by disasters such as wildfires, floods or earthquakes, pooling voluntary resources and sharing them with the country in need.
The committees proposed increasing UCPM funding to €12.42 billion in current prices, up from €10 billion in the European Commission’s proposal.
They also suggested earmarking 40% of the funding for civil protection, 40% for health emergencies and 20% as a flexible amount.
MEPs called for stronger monitoring and “vulnerability mapping” — assessing where people, infrastructure or services are most at risk — alongside the use of EU space capabilities to support public warning and early warning systems.
They also backed support for climate projections and climate risk assessments.
Aerial firefighting fleet and health stockpiles
The committees said the new programme should strengthen rescEU — the EU’s shared emergency response capacity — including by introducing an aerial forest-fire-fighting fleet that would be available from 2028.
MEPs also proposed a “recovery readiness framework” to ensure countries have clear mandates across levels of government, sufficient technical and human capacity, and enough data to co-ordinate recovery after a crisis.
Volunteers should have a dedicated legal status that includes clear insurance coverage, recognition of qualifications and exemptions from constraints related to their day jobs.
On health emergencies, the committees said the mechanism should help countries tackle serious cross-border threats by stockpiling medical countermeasures such as personal protective equipment and active pharmaceutical ingredients, as well as developing early warning and surveillance systems.
They also proposed extending EU support to cross-border co-operation between specialised care centres, cross-border medical teams, assessing intensive care unit capacity, and patient transfers between member states during overload situations.
The position was approved by 61 votes to 9, with nine abstentions, and will next be put to a vote by the full European Parliament at a future plenary session.
