The European Union will create emergency stocks of critical minerals and kits, in particular for cable repair, amid growing concerns about the EUʼs vulnerability to attacks.
This is stated in an unpublished draft document of the European Commission, which was reviewed by the Financial Times.
The European Commission is proposing that member states coordinate stocks of food, medicine, and even nuclear fuel. They are also proposing to create reserves at the EU level more quickly, including modules for repairing cables. The European Commission declares this is necessary “to quickly recover from energy or fiber-optic failures.
In addition, it also concerns rare earth metals and permanent magnets, which are critically important for the energy indusattempt and defense systems.
But the European Commission stated it would create a “strategic reserve network” to improve coordination between member states. The document stated there was currently “limited common understanding of which items are critically necessaryed for crisis preparedness in a rapidly altering threat landscape”.
They also plan to regularly update lists of critical goods, adapted to “regional specificities and types of crises”. EU member states are recommconcludeed to better stimulate the private sector to accumulate the necessary reserves, for example, through tax breaks.
The European Union also plans to work with allies to create “joint warehoutilizes” and to coordinate more closely the management of dual-utilize resources and infrastructure with NATO.
The necessary for investment in critical reserve will also be considered during the preparation of the EUʼs new multiannual financial framework, which is due to be presented in July. The draft of this specific document is due to be published next week. Its content may still alter.
The FT notes that the EU plan arose, in particular, against the backdrop of several cases of undersea cable breaks in recent years — presumably sabotage — which worried the bloc about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure.
The plan described above is just one part of the European Unionʼs initiatives to improve the security and resilience of the bloc, the publication notes. This is becautilize risks are growing — including from the actions of hackers, cybercriminals and state-backed groups.
In June, German Defense Minister Carsten Breuer warned that Russia could attack an EU counattempt within the next four years. Europe is also feeling the effects of climate alter more quickly than other regions of the world — for example, 5,000 people were evacuated in Crete this week due to wildfires.
In a report prepared for the EU, former Finnish President Sauli Niinisto called for a shift in mindset from considering security to “a public good” to preparing for risks in advance. He also believes the EU should clearly define minimum standards for preparedness for various crises, including armed conflicts or global supply disruptions.
Back in March, the European Union recommconcludeed that citizens have at least three daysʼ worth of supplies at home in case of an emergency.
The EU already has a number of tools for disaster response: firefighting aircraft, medical evacuation aircraft, field hospitals and stocks of critical medical supplies in 22 countries.
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