We are happy to announce that Ericsson and Everbridge have joined PSCE and have become part of our public safety community!

Ericsson and Everbridge will bring a lot of insights and expertise to feed into our debates and activities. We look forward to start working together and contribute to the development of critical mobile communications and to ensure that the public safety sector is up to any potential incident and challenge.

The Council presidency and European Parliament representatives reached a provisional agreement on a proposal to strengthen the EU civil protection mechanism, on 8 February.

The proposed new rules will allow the EU and the member states to be better prepared for natural and man made disasters and to respond faster when they strike, including in cases which affect a majority of member states simultaneously. The text also sets out the funding of the civil protection mechanism in the context of the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027.

“The EU civil protection mechanism is an essential tool of EU solidarity. It has provided vital support for member states facing devastating fires, earthquakes and other disasters. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us the challenges faced when many member states are in need of support simultaneously. The new rules will allow us to be even better prepared for similar situations in the future,” said Eduardo Cabrita, Portuguese Minister of Home Affairs.

In order to deploy crisis relief more swiftly, the Commission will be able to directly acquire, under specific conditions, the necessary resources under rescEU. 1.263 billion EUR will be allocated to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) under the 2021-2027 financing period, supplemented by 2.056 billion EUR from the EU Recovery Instrument, an overall budget that is roughly five times larger than the one available during the previous seven years. Parliament ensured that enough financial resources are allocated to the three pillars (prevention, preparedness and response to disasters) of the mechanism, ring-fencing prevention spending.

The Search & Rescue project is conveying a Workshop on “People with Disabilities in Search & Recue Operations” to take place online (Webex) on 30 March 2021 from 9h50 until 12H00 CET.

High level expert from relevant international organisations (IFRC, European Disability Forum) will provide an overview of existing disability-inclusive developments and initiatives in humanitarian and search and rescue operations. This will be complemented by a view from on-the-ground practitioners (Firefighter Corps) who will share their experience as well as guidelines on emergency preparedness for people with disabilities.

More details on the workshop and registration on this page.

The European Commission has tasked the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, ENISA, to prepare the EU's cybersecurity certification scheme for 5G networks that will help address risks related to technical vulnerabilities of the networks and further enhance their cybersecurity.

Certification plays a critical role in increasing trust and security in digital products and services – however, at the moment, there are various security certification schemes for IT products, including 5G networks, in Europe.

The Commission recognises the importance of having a single common scheme for certification that would make easier for businesses to trade across borders and for customers to understand the security features of a given product or service.

“Security is at the core of 5G technology roll-out. EU-wide certification, in combination with other types of measures in the EU 5G Toolbox, supports our efforts to optimise 5G security and patch technical vulnerabilities. This is why it is important that Member States make further progress in implementing the Toolbox”, said the Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton.