- Europe
- News Desk
- Source: European Commission https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_26_2239
European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib used a speech at the Resilient Europe Conference in Prague to outline the EU's Preparedness Strategy, warning that Europe faces mounting threats from floods, wildfires, cyberattacks and hybrid warfare, and that extreme weather has cost the bloc roughly €45 billion a year over the past five years. She stressed the need to prepare before crises hit, citing recent disasters such as the September 2024 floods in Czechia and this summer's wildfires near Bordeaux and Madrid.
Key facts
What are the main threats facing Europe?
- Extreme weather has cost Europe approximately €45 billion annually over the past five years, according to Commissioner Lahbib.
- In September 2024, rivers flooded across Czechia, forcing thousands to leave their homes.
- Over 6,000 Czech firefighters were mobilised in 2022 when fires tore through Bohemian Switzerland National Park.
- This summer, a drone carrying explosives was discovered at Leipzig airport, near the Czech border.
- Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average, and this summer was the hottest ever recorded in western Europe.
Lahbib, who has made preparedness a priority since taking office, described a continent under pressure on multiple fronts: natural disasters, war on its borders, hybrid and cyber-attacks, sabotage, health emergencies and the unknown risks of artificial intelligence. She noted that crises can quickly cascade across sectors, with a cyberattack able to bring down a hospital or a flood cutting off electricity and drinking water, as happened last year in Spain and Portugal when power outages affected millions.
Beyond nature, conflict is moving closer. Lahbib pointed to Russia's war against Ukraine, now in its fifth year, and to hybrid attacks hitting EU countries, including the discovery this summer of a drone carrying explosives at Leipzig airport, not far from the Czech border. She also cited the war in the Middle East as driving up food and energy prices in Europe. How is the EU responding?
The Commissioner outlined the EU Preparedness Strategy, built on the principle that society must keep running during a crisis: lights stay on, hospitals treat patients, medicines remain available. She introduced the concept of 'preparedness by design', under which every euro spent and every new policy is assessed on whether it makes Europe better prepared and whether it will work under pressure. This approach is already being applied to the current EU budget, and the Commission wants preparedness and security hard-wired into every major programme in the next long-term budget.
In practice, Lahbib focused on three areas. First, the Commission will soon publish its first Comprehensive Risk and Threat Assessment, mapping security threats, natural hazards, health emergencies and technological risks on a single map. It is also working with Member States on EU Minimum Preparedness Requirements to ensure a basic level of protection across the bloc, from hospital care to drinking water.
Second, the EU is building up essential supplies. Lahbib recalled the pandemic, when European countries bid against each other for masks, and said the EU Stockpiling and Medical Countermeasures Strategies launched last year aim to prevent a repeat by stockpiling critical medicines, equipment, vaccines, treatments and tests.
Third, the Commission is stepping up action on wildfires and heatwaves. Earlier this year it adopted a European approach to wildfires covering prevention, response and recovery. Last month, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new advisory group of experienced firefighters and crisis managers and a European plan to prepare for heatwaves. What role for citizens and the military?
Lahbib stressed that preparedness is a shared responsibility. 'Even the best emergency services cannot do this alone. Preparedness is about all of us: businesses, communities and citizens, we are all links in the chain,' she said. She noted that when civilian emergency services are overwhelmed, the military is ready to step in, and that keeping a city safe today requires civilians and soldiers working hand in hand.
She also called for a change in mindset, building a culture of readiness so that people know what supplies to keep at home and where to find trustworthy information. 'When the water starts rising, it is too late to start preparing,' she said, adding that the EU must ensure Europe is ready before the next alarm sounds. What happens next?
The Commission is due to publish its first Comprehensive Risk and Threat Assessment, which will for the first time bring together security, natural, health and technological risks in one overview. It will also continue negotiations with Member States and the European Parliament on the next long-term budget, in which it wants preparedness and security embedded across all major programmes.
Source: European Commission
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