450 million citizens. 450 million reasons to be better prepared.

Todays threats facing Europe are more complex than ever and interconnected. For three years in Ukraine, we have seen a battlefield of bombs and bullets, drones and fighter planes, trenches and submarines.

Our European security is directly threatened by this. It is also threatened by other battlefields. The battlefields in our pockets — our phones — and our computers, our power plants, our banks, our supply chains, our raw materials, and in the media we consume every day. These are all battlefields weaponized to threaten our European way of life and our democracies.

The European Union has two ways of responding: we can stick our head in the sand and act like it isnt happening. Or we can look these threats squarely in the eye and say: “This is the reality. We will prepare.”

Since the start of my mandate as Commissioner for Preparedness, I have visited countries here in Europe and halfway across the world — Ukraine, Poland, Italy, France, and Bangladesh. And earlier this week, I visited the Port of Antwerp. I have seen firsthand how different countries and locations prepare for emergencies, depending on geopolitics or their geographical location.

Being prepared is different for every country. There is no “one size fits all”. I have exchanged ideas and best practices with local authorities and experts on the ground. These exchanges have contributed to making this Strategy concrete, targeted, and operational.

In the EU, we must think differently because the threats are different. We must think bigger because the threats are bigger. This strategy does precisely that, setting out 30 concrete actions. We are getting everyone on board in every sector — from governments, institutions, and businesses to communities, citizens, and volunteers.

We already have strong crisis response tools, but we can no longer rely on ad hoc reactions. We must be more proactive, better coordinated, more systematic, detecting threats earlier and acting faster. That is why we are setting up a new EU Crisis Coordination Hub to coordinate better when a crisis hits. This Hub will build on the expertise of our Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) to better support Member States in managing todays crises.

We are also bolstering our Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), our protective shield in times of emergency. It coordinates aid, mobilizes emergency teams, and delivers life-saving assistance when floods, wildfires, and other disasters strike. We have done it in Spain, Ireland, Mozambique, Mayotte, and just recently in North Macedonia with more than 50 burn victims of a nightclub fire being taken care of in EU hospitals. When we get the call, we go.

Requests for assistance have gone up over ten times since the UCPM started in the early 2000s, and requests spiked during COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. We respond not only in Europe but across the world, and for many different types of crises. Today our UCPM is more important than ever, and that is why we are making it even stronger.

In this new Strategy, we are also reinforcing rescEU — our European safety net. These strategic reserves help the EU respond to every type of emergency — with firefighting planes, stockpiles of vital medical, energy, and transport equipment, and specialized assets against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. We will also propose an EU-wide stockpiling strategy to ensure access to critical resources across the EU. Our rescEU reinforces our capacities and provides teams of experts in emergencies.

The EU will also work with Member States to ensure people have essential supplies for at least 72 hours in a crisis. We are also getting more young people involved. Programs like Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps will help build a new generation — aware, trained, and ready to act in an emergency. Young people also have the know-how to spot misinformation. All of this will make our societies stronger and build trust in our democracies.

This is a once-in-a-generation moment for the security of Europe. Strengthening our preparedness will be an essential part of this. When we prepare together, we are safer together. Now its time to get to work and put it into action.