On 23-29 June 2012, 20 civil protection experts from the beneficiary countries of the project Civil Protection Cooperation for the candidate countries and potential candidates met in Sutomore, Montenegro, to participate in the 7th Basic Training Course (BAT) under Lot 1. They got an insight into the design and functioning of the Civil Protection Mechanism, learned about common procedures in international civil protection assistance and shared their own experiences. Maybe even more importantly, they enhanced their international network of contacts that they can rely on in case of emergency.
The IPA CPC project for EU candidate and potential candidate countries is EU-funded and implemented by a consortium led by Human Dynamics. It runs from December 2010 through November 2012 with a budget of EUR 4 million. Its primary goal is to bring IPA countries closer to the EU's Community Mechanism for Civil Protection.
Extreme temperatures, wildfires, floods and earthquakes are imminent risks to the EU’s candidate and potential candidate countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo*, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. Just recently, Montenegro had required support to extinguish severe forest fires — turning for this to the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection.
In this context, this project, under Lot 1, includes common training and exchange of knowledge under the guidance of EU experts. This is meant to ameliorate the beneficiaries’ civil protection capabilities, to enhance the cooperation and solidarity in the region, and, unltimately, to reduce the countries’ high vulnerability to (often cross-border) disasters.
Established in 2011 by Council decision, the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection is meant to facilitate cooperation in civil protection assistance between participating countries. To date, 32 countries take part — all EU countries and also Croatia and FYROM.
Participating countries share a common pool of civil protection capabilities. In case of an emergency, any country from inside or outside the EU can request assistance from this pool. Adhering to the principle of subsidiarity, the Mechanism’s Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) consolidates available resources while authority remains with the nation states.