European Preparedness Union Strategy

EU Comprehensive Risk and Threat Assessment: The Commission and High Representative will develop a cross-sector, all-hazards EU risk and threat assessment integrating internal and external security insights, real-time early warning data, satellite monitoring, and national assessments; the Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC) will be reinforced as the single intelligence entry point to feed the exercise. [from 2025]

EU Crisis Dashboard: A cross-sectoral crisis dashboard will be developed to aggregate sectoral rapid alert systems and provide decision-makers with a unified operational picture, feeding directly into College of Commissioners discussions in a Security College format. [from 2025]

Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) Upgrade: The ERCC will be strengthened to produce regular all-hazard operational-outlook briefings, analyse cascading crisis effects across sectors, and develop crisis scenarios to support proactive rather than reactive emergency management.

EU Training Catalogue and Lessons Learned Platform: The Commission and High Representative will develop a catalogue of preparedness training methods and guidelines for Member States, an EU-wide skills development plan covering security, defence, and crisis management, and a cross-institutional lessons-learned exchange platform to improve future response efforts.

EU Earth Observation Governmental Service (EOGS): A new governmental Earth observation service will be established to provide secure, persistent, and targeted satellite sensing for emergency management and security purposes, building on and reinforcing existing Copernicus capabilities.

Minimum Preparedness Requirements: Building on full transposition of the CER and NIS2 Directives, the Commission will identify additional sectors not covered by existing legislation and put forward recommendations on minimum preparedness requirements with a monitoring mechanism aligned to Disaster Resilience Goals and NATO resilience baseline requirements.

Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) Revision: The Commission will revise the UCPM legislative framework to improve effectiveness and efficiency in high-impact emergencies, strengthening European-level coordination and response capacity for complex cross-sectoral crises.

EU Stockpiling Strategy: The Commission will propose an integrated EU-wide stockpiling strategy combining centralised EU-level reserves with Member States' contributions and public-private partnerships, covering emergency response, medical countermeasures, critical raw materials, energy equipment, shelter, and agri-food products; a parallel strategy on medical countermeasures against CBRN threats will complement the Critical Medicines Act.

European Climate Adaptation Plan: The Commission will present a European Climate Adaptation Plan embedding preparedness-by-design across EU sector policies and investments, strengthening proactive climate, environment and water risk management, and providing common climate reference scenarios for people, businesses and policymakers.

European Water Resilience Strategy: The Commission will propose a strategy setting a path toward water security by ensuring availability of clean water, protecting against water-related risks, and promoting nature-based solutions; a Circular Economy Act will complement it by increasing circular and biobased materials in EU value chains to reduce critical raw material import dependence.

PreparEU Early Warning Guidelines: The Commission will develop communication guidelines for Member States on warning the population before and during crises, building on the PreparEU initiative and integrating the Copernicus Emergency Management Service and the upcoming Galileo Emergency Warning Satellite Service (EWSS) for space-based alert dissemination.

Annual EU Preparedness Day: The Commission will establish an annual EU Preparedness Day to recognise preparedness efforts by authorities and communities and raise public awareness of disaster risks, complemented by communication guidelines, citizens panels, the EUvsDisinfo portal, and toolkits for countering information manipulation.

72-Hour Population Self-Sufficiency Guidelines: As part of the PreparEU initiative, the Commission will propose guidelines for Member States to achieve population self-sufficiency of at least 72 hours during extreme disruptions, covering essential supplies, shelter, and crisis planning, supported by a new EU online platform providing citizens with tailored risk and preparedness information.

Preparedness in School Curricula: The Commission will develop guidelines for integrating preparedness skills — including media literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement — into school curricula from early childhood onwards, with professional development resources for teachers made available via the European School Education Platform.

Preparedness Priority in EU Youth Programmes: A dedicated preparedness strand will be created within Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps to promote crisis resilience, civic engagement, and democratic participation, using a bottom-up funding approach for educational and youth organisations.

Talent Attraction for Preparedness Sectors: The EU will explore concrete measures to attract top research talent to Europe and use the EU Talent Pool and Talent Partnerships to recruit and develop skilled workers in critical sectors facing preparedness-related shortages, including from partner countries.

Public-Private Preparedness Task Force: The Commission will establish a multi-stakeholder task force drawing on the Industrial Forum, Enterprise Europe Network, and European clusters to facilitate information-sharing on supply chain vulnerabilities, coordinate continuity planning for vital functions, and develop guidance and incentives for private sector minimum preparedness requirements.

Public-Private Emergency Protocols: The Commission and Member States will revise legislative and operational frameworks to enable time-bound emergency flexibility, including in public procurement, to ensure rapid availability of critical materials and services; coordinated engagement frameworks for critical private sector actors will be developed through the Preparedness Task Force.

Public Procurement Framework Revision: The Commission will propose a revision of the public procurement framework to strengthen security of supply along key value chains, drawing on lessons from COVID-19 and past crises, with targeted provisions to accelerate procedures during emergencies.

European Centre of Expertise on Research Security: The Commission will establish a dedicated centre to collect evidence on foreign interference in research and innovation, provide guidance and support to Member States and R&I actors, and implement the Council recommendation on research security.

Civil-Military Preparedness Arrangements: The Commission and High Representative will develop comprehensive civil-military preparedness arrangements clarifying roles and responsibilities of EU institutions and Member States, underpinned by standard operating procedures for coordination, and complemented by the work towards a European Civil Defence Mechanism; operational staff-level cooperation with NATO will be strengthened across crisis contexts.

Dual-Use Infrastructure Standards: The Commission and High Representative, working with Member States, will identify dual-use infrastructure and assets and define design and planning standards that jointly serve civilian resilience and military needs, including compatibility of TEN-T upgrades with NATO military transport requirements and development of EU-NATO aligned technical standards for dual-use products and infrastructure.

Regular EU-Wide Preparedness Exercises: The Commission and High Representative will organise regular cross-sectoral EU-wide preparedness exercises to test decision-making, coordination, and operational responses under the Solidarity and Mutual Assistance clauses, with Member States able to integrate national exercises and with private sector and international partner participation where relevant.

EU Crisis Coordination Hub: A cross-sectoral crisis coordination hub will be established within the ERCC to provide integrated situational awareness, facilitate coordination across lead services, monitor overall crisis responses, and link internal crisis management with the EEAS Crisis Response Centre for coherent internal-external action.

rescEU Capacity Scaling: The Commission will secure and scale up existing rescEU strategic reserves (aerial firefighting, medical, CBRN, shelters, transport, energy), finalise the European field hospital, and jointly assess with Member States the expansion of reserves to cover additional identified gaps such as critical infrastructure repair and telecommunications.

Mutual Resilience with EU Candidate Countries: The EU will associate candidate countries with relevant EU preparedness initiatives and crisis management frameworks through the enlargement process, reinforcing cooperation on preparedness, resilience, security, defence, and countering hybrid, FIMI, and cyber threats.

Preparedness Integration in Bilateral and Multilateral Partnerships: The EU will use Security and Defence Partnerships, CSDP missions and operations, and reinforced crisis communication networks to enhance preparedness and resilience cooperation with key partner countries, stepping up multilateral engagement through the UN in line with EU-UN Joint Priorities for 2025-2027.

EU-NATO Preparedness and Resilience Integration: Preparedness and resilience commitments will be embedded in EU-NATO Structured Dialogues, cross-briefings, and training, with a focus on military mobility, emerging technologies, cyber, space, defence industry, and hybrid and FIMI threats.

Mutual Resilience Through External Economic and Development Policies: The EU will use the Global Gateway, NDICI-Global Europe, IPA III, the forthcoming New Pact for the Mediterranean, Free Trade Agreements, Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships, and Digital Partnerships to diversify supply and value chains in partner countries and reduce EU over-dependencies.