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EU households should stockpile essential supplies to survive at least 72 hours of crisis, Brussels has proposed, as Russia’s war in Ukraine and a darkening geopolitical landscape prompt the bloc to take new steps to increase its security.
The continuing conflict in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic that brutally exposed a lack of crisis response capabilities and the Trump administration’s adversarial stance towards Europe have forced the continent to rethink its vulnerabilities and increase spending on defence and security.
The new initiative comes as European intelligence agencies warn that Russia could attack an EU member state within three to five years, adding to natural threats including floods and wildfires worsened by climate change and societal risks such as financial crises.
Europe faced increased threats “including the possibility of armed aggression against member states”, the European Commission warned on Wednesday as it published a 30-step plan for its 27 capitals to increase their preparedness for crisis and mitigation measures.
“New realities require a new level of preparedness in Europe,” said commission president Ursula von der Leyen. “Our citizens, our member states and our businesses need the right tools to act both to prevent crises and to react swiftly when a disaster hits.”
The Brussels initiative, which includes both concrete steps to be taken by the EU executive and non-legislative suggestions for national capitals, borrows from long-standing crisis response policies in countries including Finland, Sweden and Belgium.
It is partly designed as a wake-up call for some capitals that lack crisis-response capabilities.
In addition to encouraging “the public to adopt practical measures, such as maintaining essential supplies for a minimum of 72 hours in emergencies”, the commission proposes that an “EU crisis hub” be established to co-ordinate cross-border responses.
It also calls for more “stockpiling of critical equipment and materials” and measures to ensure continuity of services such as healthcare, water supplies and telecommunications in the event of conflict or disaster.
The initiative follows warnings by Sauli Niinistö, Finland’s former president, in an EU-commissioned report released in October that Europe had taken its safety for granted since the end of the cold war and was now vulnerable.
“We face an increasing number of external security challenges and a growing number of hybrid attacks,” said Kaja Kallas, the commission’s vice-president for foreign and security policy. “It is clear that Europe must be stronger on all fronts and at every level of society. It is always better to prevent crises than to deal with their consequences.”
