Civil Protection and Crisis Management in the European Union: Report of Session 2008-09 - Report with Evidence

In this report examining crisis management in the European Union (EU), the Committee calls for a closer working relationship between the EU Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) and NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response and Coordination Centre (EADRCC). The role of the two bodies is similar but there is practically no contact between them. It would be in the interests of the EU, NATO and the members of both organisations to support and complement each other’s work rather than duplicating it. In the event of a serious natural or man-made disaster the failure of the two bodies to cooperate could have serious consequences. The Committee also raise concerns that, due to concerns about security clearance, NATO prevents officials of the EU Joint Situation Centre (SitCen) from taking part in NATO training courses. The Committee state that the level of security clearance required by NATO should be the same for officials of national Governments and of the European Union. The Committee also call on the Government to begin working with the EU to ensure a full EU contribution to the security preparations in place at the 2012 Olympic site and in surrounding London boroughs. Finally, the report criticises the failure of the UK to participate fully in international exercises designed to test preparedness for Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear (CBRN) attacks. The UK has been involved to some extent in only 11 of 31 EU or NATO CBRN exercises between 2000 and 2008. Using the NATO criterion, ‘participated in the exercise by deploying teams’, the UK has played a full part in none of the NATO exercises and only one of the EU exercises.