Let me start with a few words on the dramatic situation in Valencia and across Spain. What we are seeing is devastating. Entire villages are covered in mud. People seeking refuge on trees, and cars swept away by the fury of the waters. Tens of people have lost their lives. Thousands are displaced. Therefore, our thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends, but also with the rescue teams. They are working tirelessly to bring as many as possible to safety. Europe is ready to help. We have activated our Copernicus satellite system to help coordinate the rescue teams. And we have already offered to activate our Civil Protection Mechanism. Europa está lista para ayudar. In just a few months, floods have hit Central and Eastern Europe, Italy and now Spain. This is the dramatic reality of climate change. And we must prepare to deal with it, all across our Union, and with all tools at our disposal. This leads me to the topic of today.
Dear Sauli Niinistö,
Seven months ago, together with the HR/VP, I asked you to write a report on how to enhance Europe's civilian and defence preparedness and readiness. Nobody is better equipped than you to take stock of current challenges and pave the way for a Union that is better prepared for future shocks and crises. Many events of these last years have been wake-up calls. Our lives have been disrupted by a pandemic; war has returned to Europe; and extreme weather phenomena are the new normal due to climate change. Europe is realising that the major crises of the past years are neither isolated nor transitory ones. Instead, they reflect deeper fault lines and 'tectonic' geopolitical, climatic, and technological changes. In the face of these changes, we often have simply reacted. But we need to do more. We need to change our mindset. Preparedness must become part of the underlying logic of all our actions and address the full spectrum of threats and risks.
Let me give you some examples: First, as I said, there is climate change and its effect on our lives. Today, it is vital to monitor for example our forests from the sky because in the blink of an eye a spark becomes a blaze. Or take hybrid attacks and their many different forms: disinformation, the cynical weaponisation of migrants, cyberattacks, sabotage. One click can switch off power grids and plunge whole cities into the dark. Or take the economic risks we face, such as supply chain disruptions. We have broken free from the chains of our dependency on Russian fossil fuels. Now we need to reduce our other harmful dependencies on other items. And as a fourth example, you have military risks of course. Putin's war on Ukraine is the single biggest threat to our security. This year, Russia's defence expenditure is in the process of overtaking the collective amounts of all European Member States combined. So we need to step up our efforts, knowing that preparing for the worst can help preventing it from happening. Given the scale of these challenges, we need to work closer together and make a difference as Europeans.
Being adequately prepared for major threats requires working in a whole-of-government approach. That is the term, dear Sauli, that you are using in your report. This means, the ability to use in a concerted and coordinated fashion all the necessary tools and resources of public policy, mobilising authorities at all levels – national, local, and EU – according to their different roles. But this also requires a whole-of-society approach. Therefore, engaging the private sector, civil society and citizens. In other words, preparedness cannot be built in silos. Instead, preparedness requires interaction. This will be at the core of the Preparedness Union Strategy that the new Commission and the new HR/VP will present.
Dear Sauli,
I want to thank you personally for the excellent cooperation during the last months. Your work has already contributed to the Political Guidelines of the new Commission and to the mission letters of the Commissioner for the next mandate, and it will of course guide the work of the whole Commission in the years to come. The floor is yours.
