President Iohannis in Brussels: I will bring up the need to strengthen EU's disaster preparedness and response

President Iohannis in Brussels: I will bring up the need to strengthen EU's disaster preparedness and response.

President Klaus Iohannis announced on Thursday that, together with nine other states, Romania submitted a joint letter to the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission regarding the need to strengthen the European Union's disaster preparedness and response mechanisms, told Agerpres.

"I will bring up the need to strengthen the European Union's disaster preparedness and response mechanisms. And I will do this together with nine other member states: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, France, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia, which joined my initiative on strengthening the European Union's capacity in this area. This way, we send a high-level political message on the added value of European civil protection in major crisis situations, as well as the need to strengthen disaster preparedness and response mechanisms, given that the member states are not always able to face these complicated situations alone. I have promoted a letter, a joint letter submitted to the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, a letter co-signed by the nine member states that I mentioned," Iohannis said ahead of a meeting of the European Council.

The letter suggests developing a strategic approach geared towards a medium and long-term development of the civil protection mechanism; strengthening the institutional capacity of the EU by exploring the possibility of creating a single crisis management centre; developing emergency preparedness and response at the European level; improving the role of national authorities in terms of civil protection and crisis management.

Iohannis added that the European Council will also discuss migration.

"Another issue that concerns us - and we consider it to be of major importance - is migration. Given that the problem is a common one, it calls for a common solution and Romania, I think you remember - I said it before - has been very involved in this issue. Actions related to border management are an important tool in combating illegal migration. Romania has contributed to the implementation of the February conclusions, the conclusions of the extra summit dedicated to this issue, including through the pilot project on the border with Serbia, as President Von der Leyen also pointed out in the letter sent to the leaders in preparation for today's discussions. We are successfully advancing the project in close co-operation with the European Commission, in order to promote Romania's good practices at the EU external border. Our involvement reconfirms that Romania is acting in the spirit of solidarity and responsibility at the level of the European Union and we continue to play an active role in shaping common solutions for combating illegal migration and border management," said Iohannis.

He added that the European summit will also look at the economy, security and defence, the EU external relations, and preparing the future EU strategic agenda.