Commission invites 150 EU citizens to help shape future preparedness actions

Tomorrow, the first session of the European Citizens' Panel on Preparedness will start in Brussels and run until Sunday. 150 randomly selected citizens from across Europe will discuss recommendations on how to implement the Preparedness Union Strategy, which emphasises active citizen engagement for effective crisis preparedness. Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis management, Hadja Lahbib, will open the session on Friday.

One year after the adoption of its Preparedness Strategy, the Commission has already delivered on key commitments. The EU Stockpiling and Medical Countermeasures Strategies ensure the availability of essential goods and medical items when crises strike. A new EU Stockpiling Network brings together national stockpiling authorities for the first time, to ensure that Member States can coordinate assistance and deliver essential goods where they are needed in case of emergencies. The Commission also proposed a revision of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to improve the coordinated response to emergencies and strengthen the EU's Emergency Response Coordination Centre. This includes the creation of the EU Crisis Coordination Hub and consolidating existing emergency rescEU reserves. And a new Water Resilience Strategy aims to enhance water security. The EU and Member States are also preparing people for emergencies by raising awareness, giving guidance for 72-hour household self-sufficiency, and integrating preparedness into school programmes for early childhood and primary education.

This will be the eighth Citizens' panel the Commission organises since their launch in 2022. The Commissioner and three panel participants will also join the EU Preparedness Conference on 23-24 March, bringing together public authorities, academia, private sector, and civil society to assess progress and set priorities for responding to future crises.

Journalists wishing to attend should contact COMM-CITIZENS-PANELSec [dot] europa [dot] eu (COMM-CITIZENS-PANELS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu). Plenary sessions on Friday and Sunday will be streamed on the Citizens' Engagement Platform, where a parallel online discussion open to all EU citizens is also feeding into the panel's work.