Financial instrument for civil protection

2005/0052(CNS)

The Commission adopted a report on the ex-post evaluation of the Community Civil Protection Mechanism and Civil Protection Financial Instrument for the period 2007-2013.

The European Civil Protection Mechanism was established in 2001 to facilitate reinforced cooperation in civil protection assistance interventions. Council Decision 2007/779/EC, Euratom (the Mechanism Decision), was designed to deal with the increase in frequency and seriousness of natural and man-made disasters.

The total amount for the actions and measures to be financed by the CPFI Decision was set at €189.8 million for the period 1 January 2007 – 31 December 2013. The Mechanism Decision and the CPFI Decision were repealed as of entry into force on 1 January 2014 of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism Decision.

In accordance with the CPFI Decision, the Commission is required to submit to the European Parliament and the Council an ex-post evaluation report of Mechanism actions in the field of civil protection that received financial assistance in the period 2007-2013.

It should be recalled that the Mechanism supports the mobilisation of emergency assistance in the event of major disasters – any type of natural or man-made – inside and outside EU. At the end of 2013, 32 countries participated in the Mechanism: all 28 Member States of the European Union plus the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (hereafter together the Participating States).

Effectiveness of the mechanism actions: the Commission's overall conclusion is that the Mechanism actions that received financial assistance in the period 2007-2013 have performed very satisfactory and achieved their objectives. The CPFI financing used for this purpose has generated substantial EU value added:

  • a total of some €20 million was allocated in the 2007-2013 annual work programmes to fund the different functions of the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC), the operational heart of the Mechanism and as of 15 May 2013 was replaced by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC);
  • a total of some €29 million was allocated to training courses in the 2007-2013 annual work programmes. Between 2009 and 2010, the number of offered training courses doubled from six to twelve, between 2010 and 2013 the training courses witnessed a steady increase of participants, while the amount of financial resources invested remained constant ;
  • the overall size of the budget allocated to simulation exercises in the 2007-2013 annual work programmes was over €20 million;
  • the total amount dedicated to the exchange of experts programme in the 2007-2013 annual work programmes amounted to €1.75 million;
  • more than €13 million was allocated to modules exercises;
  • the overall budget available for prevention projects was about €14 million and for preparedness projects some €10.5 million;
  • a total of €62.9 million was allocated to transport assistance, resulting in Commission’s net contribution to transport assistance of around €11 million during this period;
  • the EU Budgetary Authority earmarked a total of €22.5 million for pilot project and preparatory actions for the period 2008-2010;
  • actions with third countries were funded through different financial instruments. The IPA Civil Protection Cooperation Programme I was funded under the Instrument for pre-accession Assistance (IPA) for the period 2010-2012. PPRD South ran between 2009 and 2012 with a budget of €5 million, whereas PPRD East covered the period 2010-2014 with a budget of €6 million.

Conclusions and perspectives: overall, the Commission agreed with the results of the external evaluation that Mechanism actions were designed to be cost-effective (e.g. in the case of training courses, the budget remained stable in the period 2010-2013 yet the number of participants benefiting from the courses increased) and were broadly implemented efficiently. The Commission concluded that European cooperation and coordination in the field of civil protection made substantial progress since 2007 and established a good basis for continuing these positive developments.

It agrees that in a number of areas there is scope to further enhance and develop the Mechanism and welcomes the external evaluation recommendations. The 2013 Decision provides the legal foundation for further significant progress in prevention, preparedness and response, and specifically addresses many of the issues identified in the external evaluation (e.g. the 2013 Decision calls for a strategic framework for simulation exercises).

The Commission will therefore aim to take the majority of these recommendations into account in the already ongoing implementation of the 2013 Decision.