Europe at night: Blackout not excluded
Photo: AFP/ NASA
In view of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis, the EU Commission considers power cuts and other emergencies within the EU to be possible.
"It is quite possible that disaster relief will also be needed within the EU," said the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, the editorial network Germany.
The EU is therefore working with two scenarios:
Should only a small number of member states be affected by an incident such as a blackout, "other EU states can supply power generators through us, as happens during natural disasters," Lenarcic said.
If a large number of countries were affected at the same time, so that EU countries would have to cap their emergency aid deliveries to other member states, the Commission could meet the needs from its strategic reserve.
According to Lenarcic, this reserve for emergencies includes fire-fighting aircraft, generators, water pumps and fuel, but also medical equipment and now also medicine.
The EU Commission had already prepared itself against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear emergencies during the course of the corona pandemic.
"We have now been able to deliver five million iodine tablets to the Ukraine for the residents of threatened nuclear power plants," he said.
All EU member states, but also all other countries in the world, can apply to the EU program for civil protection for help in the event of forest fires, floods, earthquakes and similar acute crises.
The aid with material and equipment from other EU countries is then coordinated and forwarded by the program under the Crisis Protection Commissioner.
In an emergency, this can be done on the same day, he emphasized.
mike/AFP
