Community Civil Protection Mechanism. Recast

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. In addition, Council Decision 2007/162/EC, Euratom (the CPFI Decision) enabled the funding of activities aimed at preventive, preparedness and more effective response actions, particularly those taken by way of the cooperation between Member States and carried out under the Mechanism.

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 The Mechanism Decision and the CPFI Decision were repealed as of entry into force on 1 January 2014 of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism Decision.

The Commission already carried out an interim evaluation of Mechanism actions that covered the period 2007-2009, the results of which were transmitted to the European Parliament and the Council at the end of 2011. This report presents the main findings of the ex-post evaluation of all Mechanism actions during the full period 1 January 2007 – 31 December 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 Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC), replaced by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) as of 15 May 2013, was considered an effective platform with the appropriate features and adequate resources to achieve its objectives and to fulfil its functions;
• the training courses achieved their objectives to improve the individual skills and competences of the experts and to establish a common understanding for cooperation in civil protection interventions;
• the simulation exercises have broadly achieved their objectives, in particular promoting better coordination and faster response times, and contributed to the overall Mechanism;
• the exchange of expert programme was considered effective to the extent it fulfilled the objectives of the participants;
• the interim evaluation recommended that the modules concept should be further developed, including through specialised exercises and developing standard operating procedures. These recommendations were fully implemented;
• the results of prevention and preparedness projects met the objectives set in the annual work programmes and resulted in concrete actions, such as supporting the development of disaster prevention strategies and raising awareness on specific issues;
• the various prevention activities developed and implemented the activities contributed to more knowledge-based disaster prevention policies, to linking prevention actors and policies to the relevant preparedness and response actors, and to the mainstreaming of disaster prevention considerations into existing EU financial and legislative instruments;
• 77% of Participating States surveyed considered that the provision of transport support through grants effectively contributed to improving the response to emergencies;
• the effectiveness of marine pollution actions depended directly on the good cooperation with EMSA. In all the operations involving EMSA this cooperation was considered effective;
• most Participating States surveyed considered that the pilot project and preparatory actions contributed to more effective disaster response by complementing existing capacities rather than duplicating previous efforts and results;
• overall, collected evidence indicated that the objectives of the actions with third countries, namely IPA Programme and PPRD South and East Programmes, were achieved.

The overall evaluation of the implementation of the Mechanism observed generally very good results and clearly demonstrated the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency and EU added value of the Mechanism as a whole and of its individual actions. The Mechanism actions were successful in many respects. They:

• improved coordination and cooperation and enhancing the Participating States' preparedness and response capacities;
• provided an efficient, rapid and effective response to emergencies;
• provided access to transport resources for ensuring rapid response.

The CPFI financing used for this purpose has generated substantial EU value added.

Possible improvements: most significant recommendations included creating a more coherent framework for Mechanism preparedness actions, including exercises, training, projects, exchange of experts, and better planning, as well as more streamlined response procedures and higher transport EU cofinancing rates.

The Commission 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.