{"id":432042,"date":"2025-07-09T10:28:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T08:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/07\/09\/guerra-biologica-e-attacchi-chimici-lue-lancia-il-coordinamento-contro-le-crisi\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T23:22:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T21:22:43","slug":"biological-warfare-and-chemical-attacks-eu-launches-crisis-coordination-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/07\/09\/biological-warfare-and-chemical-attacks-eu-launches-crisis-coordination-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Biological warfare and chemical attacks: EU launches crisis coordination plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – Preparing for the worst, knowing what to do if it happens. The European Commission is continuing along the line inaugurated at\u00a0end of March, with the survival ‘guide’ to the first 72 hours of the crisis.<\/a> Now, it is starting to name the “worst” that could happen: natural disasters, antibiotic resistance, viruses with pandemic potential that can be contracted through breathing as well as chemical attacks and biological warfare<\/strong>. For all these types of threats, there is a\u00a0call for\u00a0improved coordination<\/strong>, which is primarily political.<\/p>\n

There are no resources to invest in this. At the moment, 5 billion euros<\/strong> are available for the whole period of 2021-2027 from the different programs related to health and crisis management (EU4Health<\/a>, Horizon Europe<\/a> and rescEU<\/a>), and the Commission promises to make money available for crisis preparedness in the next multiannual budget, the first draft of which is expected next week (16 July).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib [Strasbourg, July 9, 2025]<\/p>\n

However, the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Hajda Lahbib<\/strong>, announces: \u201cWe will increase HERA\u2019s resources between now and 2027,\u201d in addition to creating a European network, because \u201cwith good coordination, we can save taxpayers\u2019 money.\u201d She adds, \u201cPreparedness also has a cost, and it\u2019s important to start exchanging information to avoid gaps and overlaps.\u201d At the moment, she acknowledges, \u201cWe don\u2019t know what other countries have in their inventories.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the Commission is urging is to start studying how to make medical and health countermeasures available <\/strong>in the event of a crisis. It\u2019s not about stockpiling large quantities of medicines or equipment, but rather about developing a strategy for pooling, relocating, and supplying them. The ability to use armed forces for civil purposes will play a key role in this. The civil protection mechanism and the armies will need\u00a0to be able to cooperate to deal with the crises that the EU will face. “First and foremost, threats must be recognized,”\u00a0Lahbib stressed, emphasizing the importance of a control room to act as a “sentinel.”<\/p>\n

“Our goal is clear – to protect people,” emphasizes Roxana Minzatu<\/strong>, Executive Vice-President of the Commission responsible for Social Rights and Preparedness. <\/span><\/span>“Preparedness is a collective responsibility,<\/strong> and working with Member States, the EU can make a real difference. Whether facing natural disasters or biological threats, we must ensure essential goods remain available.”<\/strong>\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is what the strategy is all about at the moment: ensuring that everything works even when things go wrong, guaranteeing\u00a0<\/strong>access to essential goods and critical resources across the European Union<\/strong> through increased collaboration with Member States.\u00a0In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the economy came to a standstill, forcing lockdowns and requiring the need to address rationing and shortages of goods, food, and medical supplies, the EU intends to establish an integrated European\u00a0crisis management system with a comprehensive operational network.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are five areas where the European solidarity network<\/strong> must be built, starting with emergency supplies of essential equipment and materials (such as tents, blankets, and water purification kits).\u00a0Additionally,\u00a0medical supplies are required, including vaccines, medications, and emergency medical equipment. Thirdly, states will need to lend critical raw materials, i.e., resources vital to industry and strategic autonomy. The fourth priority is energy equipment to maintain energy security (such as power generators and high-voltage equipment). Finally, agricultural and water security involves defining potential measures against food and water shortages in the event of a crisis.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Within this framework,\u00a0the Commission\u00a0<\/strong>will elaborate a list of essential medical countermeasures in the event of armed aggression or incidents involving chemical and biological agents<\/strong>. “Today we reinforce the European predictability framework in a world full of uncertainty,” assures Lahbib. “I welcome the adoption of these strategies, however, the financial provisions are missing”, stressed Tomislav Sokol<\/strong>, the EPP group coordinator in the Public Health committee<\/a>. “These strategies are necessary to ensure our preparedness for future crises, based on the idea of \u200b\u200bsolidarity<\/strong>. Solidarity \u2014our fundamental value\u2014 is something we must preserve because without solidarity there is no European Union”.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no money; it must be found in the next common budget, but in the meantime, the Commission wants to be ready to respond to crises. Objective: access to essential resources<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":432019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30961],"tags":[27394,28513,31716,31717,30081,25745],"class_list":["post-432042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-salute-en","tag-chrisi-at","tag-gestione-crisi-en","tag-guerra-biologica-en","tag-preparazione-en","tag-roxana-minzatu-en","tag-safety-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432042"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":432098,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432042\/revisions\/432098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}