 For being here Commissioner, it has been a great privilege to be able to work with you today and of course during the past months, especially as a Greek governor I have to say that with your help we managed to tackle these emergencies that we had to face during the summer with the wildfires in Greece and we are very thankful for that and the fact that you visited Greece in person to see the disasters and hold several meetings, one of which was with the Greek governors in our association and I thank you very much because through your work we have seen how important the European Union's coordination is for natural disasters. So before starting this session today, International Day for Disaster Reduction, let us commemorate the victims of several natural disasters that many European regions had to tackle last summer. Let's see the video. Commissioner, dear special representative, ladies and gentlemen, today's debate is held on the International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction. Let me start by sharing my deepest sympathy with every local leader, every community and every person who has been affected by natural disaster all across Europe. I would now like to hold a one minute silence in remembrance of everyone in Europe and across the world who have lost their homes, loved ones and livelihoods, please. Thank you. Today's debate, Commissioner, comes after a period where many of our regions, cities, villages all across Europe were severely hit by floods and fires. From the fires in Limassol, in Cyprus, in the Attica region and the Evia Island in Greece, in Provence, in France and Sicily and Campania in Italy, to the floods in the German-speaking community of Valonia in Belgium, and Greenland, Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. In my home country, Greece, 11 EU member states came to our side during the summer fires, which burned more than one million acres in two weeks only. More than 1,000 houses and many businesses burned down or were severely damaged. Commissioner Lenarchitz, at my invitation, you met with the governors of the Greek regions and our prime minister, and I would like to thank you again for your response and your support. It is during times of crisis that we see European solidarity. It is not only during times of crisis, but during the aftermath that we need to help our regions, cities and villages. To think over 20 years, natural disasters were connected with 77 billion euros of economic loss, only in Europe. With climate change, natural disasters are becoming even more severe and more regular. So we need to restore now our natural environment, and to build more resilient communities. And the time is now. We have no time to lose. Dear commissioner, dear special representative, let me suggest that the European Commission, UNDRR, and our committee launch a task force to review locally and regionally resilience, to identify needs, and to assess the coordination between the different levels of government. We could establish a regional resilience platform to support local and regional authorities to strengthen their resilience, informing them of the support that is available at any time and share best practices, so that together we are better prepared and more resilient for the future. Commissioner, the floor is yours. Thank you, President Ticicostas. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for the invitation to discuss natural disasters, and also to mark together the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, which is today. I'm also pleased to be joined by Mrs. Mami Mizutori, special representative of the U.S. Secretary General that I understand will speak after me. The European Union has always enjoyed a strong partnership with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and this alliance is more important now than ever before in view of our changing world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the authority on the science of climate change, has recently published its latest report. The report leaves no doubt climate change is human-made, and every additional degree of warming will result in more complex disaster risks. Here in Europe, we are already witnessing the fallout from these developments. Over the course of the summer, as you said it already, President, our regions experienced more intense natural disasters than ever before. We all recall the tragic floods that ravaged villages and towns in Belgium and Germany, and the forest fires that ripped throughout many countries in southern Europe, as well as tornadoes in central Europe. The EU has responded quickly to these disasters. Following requests for assistance, the EU civil protection mechanism was immediately activated, and assistance was rapidly offered to requesting member states. Through our Emergency Response Coordination Centre, we supported and facilitated the deployment of more than 1,300 first responders from 14 countries across Europe to help the countries that were affected by the emergencies. We also helped to mobilize multiple airplanes, helicopters, and boats to assist with local response efforts. I wish to thank our member states for their offers of support. These are tangible examples of EU solidarity. But the trend is clear for all to see. Climate change is changing our lives profoundly. Our regions, our towns, our settlements face a new reality, more intense natural disasters, new and more complex disaster risks. This means that we need to reinforce our efforts across the whole disaster management cycle from prevention to preparedness and from response to recovery. To do this, we must work with all of our member states to identify the right lessons and learn from these summer disasters. Certain points are already evident. Our civil protection system needs to be strengthened across all of its dimensions. Already this year, the EU civil protection mechanism has received nearly 100 requests from states looking for assistance and support. With each passing year, the number of activation is steadily on the rise. All of this places additional pressure on our civil protection resources. To reduce the burden, we must step up our prevention efforts for all types of human-induced and natural disasters, including geological threats like volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. We also need to strengthen climate mitigation. This is how we can achieve societal resilience. As part of the European Green Deal, the EU has set an ambitious target of zero net emissions by 2050. By reducing emissions and minimizing the rise in global temperatures, we can reduce the likelihood of more climate-related disasters. These goals are ambitious, but ambitions are necessary. Of course, none of these changes can happen without you, our regional and local representatives. Local communities are the first to be hit when a natural disaster strikes. Regional authorities play a crucial role in the immediate aftermath of emergencies, but also in raising disaster risk awareness and ensuring prevention, preparedness and protection. It is therefore important that you have a prominent role in the shaping of disaster risk management strategies. As part of the EU civil protection mechanism, we will establish a dedicated knowledge network, an open, commonly owned, shared space for all experts to exchange and share their views. The European Union will actively involve local and regional actors through this framework. At the same time, we count on insights of regions to help inform our member states' disaster risk assessments and disaster risk management plans. Such assessments will contribute and help us in this path of development of EU-wide disaster resilience goals and scenario plans over the coming months and years. Your cooperation will be key as we seek to reduce natural disaster risks. We will count on your support to help build local resilience at the community level. In closing, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to thank you for supporting our work in this area to date. The Committee of the Regents is an important ally and a strong friend, and it proved that with its very positive support and positive assessment of our revision of the EU civil protection mechanism. Therefore, I look forward to our continued good cooperation, and I'm looking forward to listening to your experiences and your insights. Thank you. Thank you very much, Commissioner. I would like to welcome at this point Mami Mizutori, the special representative of the Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction and the head of UNDRR. Mizutori, you have the floor. Thank you very much, dear President Tsikostas, dear Commissioner Renatich, ladies and gentlemen, members of the European Committee of the Regents. Thank you for welcoming me here today. I'm honoured to address the 146th plenary of the European Committee of the Regents alongside Commissioner Renatich on this important topic, and I am hearing the sense of urgency in the voice of the President and the Commissioner. Because, yes, over the past few months, Europe has seen dramatic events. Flooding in wildfires, causing great trauma, as seen with the forest fires in Greece and the Mediterranean Basin, floods affecting Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg in France, volcanic eruption affecting the Canary Islands. This demonstrates the complex risk landscape across the European region and the importance of solidarity and cooperation. The compound effects of these events, many related to climate emergency with the COVID-19 pandemic, this demonstrates the need for greater investment in disastrous production and a multi-hazard approach to disaster risk management. May I join the President and the Commissioner in offering my deepest sympathies, thoughts to the people in communities and governments affected, and UNDRR is here committed to support efforts towards the reduction of disaster risk. As we come out of the pandemic crisis, we must build back better, build resilience and not create new risks. COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for a whole-of-government approach, both vertical and horizontal, that leverages the capacities of all relevant line ministries, along with national, regional and local government bodies responsible for disaster risk or playing a crucial role. Furthermore, the last 18 months has reinforced the importance of international cooperation for disaster preparedness and prevention. In this increasingly interconnected world, in this multi-hazard era, international cooperation is vital for having good global risk governance. On today, the day of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, we stand still and take stock of how international cooperation is at the heart of European efforts to build resilience across the continent and beyond. The collaboration of UNDRR and the European Committee of the Regions, and of course with the European Commission, to work further on urban resilience through a joint plan of action and collaboration in the making cities resilient 2030, is a strong political recognition of our reality. And I would like to here commend the strong leadership of Commissioner Linaček and the European Commission, not only this summer, but throughout in driving the European engagement on the implementation of the Sendai framework by responding to the many crises in the continent. To achieve a transformative approach to disaster risk reduction, it is necessary to work together, especially considering that cities and regions are always at the forefront when a disaster strikes and you are the source of initiatives and innovations to build resilience of your citizens and systems. The Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative will support cities to put in place local disaster risk reduction strategies and assist in the strategies implementation. This is a cross-stakeholder initiative for improving local and regional resilience through advocacy, sharing knowledge and experiences, establishing city-to-city learning networks injecting technical expertise, connecting multiple layers of government and building partnerships. I encourage all cities and regions prepared here today to join MCR 2030 and I have heard the urgent call from the President to create a task force amongst ourselves, which I welcome very much. Enhancing resilience across the region will also be key to the European Forum for Disaster Risk Production, which will convene 55 member states and stakeholders from the European region to assess progress on implementing national and local disaster risk reduction strategies, which are the foundation of good risk governance for prevention and response to disasters. Taking place right after COP26 from 24 to 26 November hosted by Portugal, the Forum will serve as a platform to reflect on the lessons learned from the pandemic and the increasing impact of global warming and extreme weather. And local governments are a very important stakeholder in this platform. In fact, today marks the launch of UNDRR's Prevention Saves Lives Campaign in Europe in the buildup to the Forum. Investing in prevention builds resilience and saves lives. It should never be seen as a cost. This is the gist of the campaign and we can only take it forward together with you who are always at the frontline of disasters. So I look forward to working together in advocating for a strengthened engagement of local and regional actors at the EU level and beyond through our joint action plan and to welcoming you all at the European Forum. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you very much. Let's start now with our debate, with our members, and I would like to give the floor now to Alberto Sirio from the EPP, please. President Piemonte is a region that in Italy, like the friends of Sicily and other areas of our country, has been severely affected, as you have remembered, by the recent situations that have characterized, especially, the fires in Boschini during the summer. But let's not just talk about fires, let's talk about allusions, let's talk about a very fragile territory under the hydrogeological profile. And it is natural that regional and local levels are then concerned with the management of the risks of these disasters, as well as the prevention of risks and the response operations to natural disasters. The regions of Italy, including my region, after the 1994 allusion activated a very strong civil protection system, an active organisation in the framework of strategies and national plans. It is clear, however, that the organizational and operational capabilities of the single regions are different from each other, they are different even within the same member states. And they are different between member states and member states of our Europe, and as a result, the action to complement the European Union should always be more, to develop an approach that is differentiated, but coordinated, based on different needs that are at the heart of the region. Exactly one year ago, I was approved by this Aula Parere, of which I was a rapporteur, a rapporteur on the strengthening of the civil protection union mechanism. And I am honored to note that the financial allocation for the period 2021 and 2028 will increase in addition to a triple, in terms of how there is a strong attention on the investments to be made. The strengthening of this instrument is still a tantrum, because in front of the climate changes and the increasing frequency of natural risks, we must continue to strengthen both the prevention of disasters and our capacity for collective response. For this reason, it is essential to have a greater flexibility. And above all, it allows me, Mr. Commissioner, that we have a problem because of the fact that natural disasters do not know borders. As a result, the trans-frontal cooperation becomes essential to prevent them and respond effectively when they are verified. And in this sense, it is strongly applicable a revision of the regulation on the use of the Fund for Solidarity of the European Union. Because the climate changes have made sure that today, the episodes of natural disasters very often are not geographically clear, but they are very intense where they are verified. For this reason, they risk hitting absolutely small and restricted areas, which then, in the comprehensive account of the numbers that the Fund for Solidarity of the European Union wants for its activation, are never sufficient to ensure that the help can arrive. For this reason, I conclude that it is possible that, as the climate changes, as the atmospheric and natural conditions change, the regulations on the use of the Funds are also appropriate to these new requirements that the climate agreement imposes on us. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Giorgos Patoulis from the EPP, please. Mr. President, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, brothers, to address the situation of the disaster and the development of unrighteousness in cities and regions is the whole and most part of the implementation of the climate crisis. Our experiences, since this summer, in Athens, in Greece, were first-time, but not unforeseen events. So, we have to take the risk to create the context in which a modern, comprehensive political situation must be created. Mr. President, the environmental management is the key to the development of the political situation system. Because the political situation must be planned, to be developed, to be established and to be developed politically and statistically based on local and environmental conditions, and not based on the protection of others. In other words, a immediate increase in the political situation and this is something in which many governments, including the European Union, are moving. We are a new model, we need a new model of political situation based on environmental management, to be established and to be focused on work because I have the assurance of the risks and immediate consequences of the crisis. In other words, I would like to complete and express my support for the climate crisis, especially with the intense consideration of the member states of the EU for climate change. And of course, I would like to thank Mr. President and you for the advice and the ability today to speak about the efforts of Europe and the efforts that are being carried out by the various governments of life and climate change. Thank you very much, Mr. Patouli. The floor now to Mr. Di Roupo from the PES Group. Mr. President, Mr. Commissioner, Madam Special Representative, in my region, in Wallonia, I am the Prime Minister and the Vice-President will express himself in an instant, we have come to live in floods that have never been known for 200 years. 209 communes, over 262 communes, in Wallonia were destroyed. 40 deaths, 100,000 people were destroyed, 45,000 buildings partially or totally destroyed. And in some communes, more than 50% of their buildings were destroyed. And this catastrophe, as you all have indicated, is one of the 7,500 major natural disasters known in the world these last 20 years. Climate warming on our planet contributes indiscutably to these catastrophic deregulations. In addition to the material impact, the social impact is terrifying. These are the weakest people and the weakest living conditions that are the most affected. Mr. Commissioner, in addition to the need to fight effectively and in a preventive way against climate warming, in Wallonia, there is now reconstruction and the financial and psychological support of highly proven people. But the budget recipes of my region are 15 billion euros. And my government will have to spend at least 3 billion euros to come in help to reduce floods. These 3 billion euros add to 3 billion already spent to avoid the systemic collapse of our economy and of our social protection following the COVID pandemic. So we will need a lot of money. A lot of money to reduce the consequences of catastrophic floods. To our Belgian demand as a member for the first time introduced a demand of help at the bottom of solidarity of the European Union. And the budget of this bottom of solidarity you know better than anyone is a currently closed envelope. Belgium is not the only member affected by the natural disasters of this summer. Several member states introduce naturally demands to have access to European funds. And without increasing the global budget of the bottom of solidarity each member states solicitors risk of receiving a negligible aid. Also, as far as what has been done for COVID I think it has been well done. It seems to me that now the budget dedicated for the bottom of solidarity in 2022 should be sufficiently important to cover the demands of member states affected by natural disasters. The look and we said it earlier and so the appreciation of citizens at the expense of the European institutions is particularly forging and may be especially in the crisis that touches them directly. And our institutions European institutions need a large support of citizens at a time when our European democracy is at risk. So in conclusion, Mr. Commissioner the insinist citizens I ask you the question can they count on your determination to try to obtain a more important budget for the bottom of solidarity of the European Union. Can they hope for a more significant support of the Commission for our part be assured that we support your action and we thank you. Thank you very much. The floor now to Mr. Borsos from Renew Europe Group please. Thank you Mr. President in the crowd of the intervention of the places of Irupo. I would like Mr. European Commissioner Madame the special representative dear colleague First of all with you associated with the tribute that you gave to the attention of victims of all the relatives of all those who were hit by the events of these last months and singularly of the last summer. In what concerns us in Irupo I have just recalled in Wallonia the number of victims and the number of people affected by the floods we still note that the total estimation of damages in Belgium exceeds today 4.8 billion euros of damages. In this context I would like to express thanks thanks following the solidarity that we have seen that we have benefited coming from other states coming from neighboring regions coming from citizens coming of course from the European level this solidarity has been extremely present and I really want to emphasize it in the flow of what has just been mentioned of course this debate refers to the debate that we come to keep concerning the urgency to take measures to take measures to fight the warming up the climate change and the natural phenomena that we come to talk about called fit to 55 or other commitments moreover I think that the European investment must also allow to support the efforts of prevention the efforts of protection resilience of the territories that it is to fight the artificialization of the soil of the devices to verdurization of the spaces of better use of the places of sites to direct and to dispose of infrastructure to manage with the new technologies the movements the energy or other devices but it is obvious that in the flow of the mobilization already recorded necessary and necessary considerable means complementary this is what I really want to relay the demand that has just been addressed to you and by the way to emphasize that this can also be translated by devices of additional budget flexibility and devices of long-term complementary to the spaces in the region or to the victims of this phenomenon thank you sir now I'll give the floor for I'll give the floor to Mr to our colleague Roberto Siambati from ECR for two and a half minutes so the historic Bizzantino Procopio narrates how it happens in 536 AD when following a series of volcanic eruptions the climate at the global level per consecutive years was turned by a flood of cemeteries a drastic flow of temperatures collected and destroyed all the world in the foundation of the rivers that changed their course caresses the prelude of an economic crisis longer than a century who is in first line in front of climate change in front of the economic and eco-sustainable transition with the problems that are taking place for the least of the environment who is in first line in front of the emergence of any type of sanitary, economic and social institutions the cities, the territories, the regions that is, the first to which citizens are involved the first to try to bring resources to organize the aid to respond to the social demand without wasting time the cataclysms and the emergence do not know the boundaries the history of our Europe teaches us the recent pandemic the explosions of last July until arriving at what is coming to the Spalmas in these hours in 2019 I was in charge of the trans-frontal cooperation for the prevention of risks with a great collaboration of the Commission and the United Nations today, today to talk about this the global day against the prevention of risks and the victims of disasters so it is important to talk about it today together with the changes that we should assume, we should build a real culture of civil protection with the training and instruction aimed at public security operators the operators of social science and medicine the services of supply and fire the weather intervention can help to contain a disaster and reduce the victims during and after the crisis we must agree on the fact that the prevention is necessary for the cities, territories and regions which therefore needs to identify a strategic line of intervention that ensures the decentralization capacity of weather intervention as autonomous this is also worth helping the countries that have some more difficulties in some cases to meet best practices together with the United Nations the European Union can therefore find the strength to become the main actor in the course to help all the countries to reduce the risks to contain the risks of disasters thank you for your attention President, good job thank you, now I will give the floor to Darius Strugalla from EA you have the floor for two minutes the Soviet Union becomes increasingly common extreme and complex and their violence affects climate change the climate change which this year the villages in Europe showed to the world and showed to the world that there are certain actions to bring about climate change and ecological transformation in the future I remember how important it is to create effective and effective action procedures in the event of a crisis in August 2017 through my mine came to the streets which emptied three-fourths of the mine area half an hour was enough because the mines disappeared residential and economic buildings construction and forest parks there was also a situation that affected me how much we don't appreciate the role of prevention we don't think about the future concentrating on common, careful actions and savings a huge problem is not enough for the safety of the mine the resistance of the city and the region for the threat can be increased if the risk management of forest mines will also be connected to other areas of politics urbanism, infrastructure public health, soil use or the use of standards built for threats and of course strengthening the role of the building management of the risk of natural disasters prevention actions on a large scale education, once again education is a challenge which are standing in front of us this task is of course for the state, the central administration also the government but also the security it is good that there is an opportunity for them to support the UN budget thank you very much thank you now I give the floor to Immanuel di Sabato is online from the Greens you have the floor for one minute sorry for two minutes thank you Mr. President dear colleagues first of all I would like to honor all the people who have been victims of these climate regulations whether it be the people who have lost their loved ones but also those who have lost everything including economically and also the companies who also live difficulties quite severe in our region then point maybe the reflection that a chronicler in our region made about an 87-year-old farmer who said we knew that the climate regulation was a problem but we did not believe it today through these different expressions of the climate regulation we believe finally by seeing this climate regulation we often believed that the climate regulation was not at home, it was far away and it was in a very long time with these different manifestations we see that the climate regulation is also at home and it is now so we probably need to work on our two feet first of all continue the fight against climate change against climate regulation we have mentioned a series of mechanisms the Green Deal, the 54-55 there are a series of things that are planned today and we are satisfied to be far away today we also have to remove the means to adapt to the climate change because it concerns us today in our regions we have to have means to be able to address in any case and adapt to these climate changes so this crisis is on additional debt issues the one that was already after the Covid that has already strongly impacted us we also pointed to it earlier and therefore there is a need to have additional means to face it we have mentioned the question of the solidarity fund there are different mechanisms in any case financial that are necessary to develop but also the need to invest in these adaptations to climate change and the Wollinir has already decided especially through its relaunch plan to remove the means to this subject finally I would like to say that it is to have a capacity of European intervention at the level of the countries that live and create Thank you Thank you so much Now I will give the floor to Paula Fernandez-Vianna for one minute Thank you very much President Good afternoon Mr. Commissioner I want to start my intervention with a question Is the European Union sufficiently equipped to face natural disasters whose frequency and magnitude with global warming Well, let's get into everything we have heard so far The answer is no It is necessary to strengthen and review the solidarity fund of the European Union with solidarity both in respect to the global volume of the budget as well as the execution procedures which are complex and slow We also need to increase the pre-financing It is necessary to strengthen the civil protection mechanism of the European Union which is one of the European tools that are active I would like to defend the creation of a global climate change fund for the regions and to review the global strategy of adaptation to the climate change of the European Union We know that there are instruments in the programs of the coalition policy since 2014 and that they had already been used by the member states to prevent fires and other disasters But we have to do it more Thank you Now I will give the floor to Dirk Weidel You have the floor for one minute Dirk Weidel You have the floor for one minute You have to push the speak button Ah, there you are No We will get back to you later Mr. Kourakis You have the floor for one minute In the development and development of life these natural phenomena today are considered highly dynamic to cause disasters Our time is characterized by the transition of natural phenomena in natural conditions and in natural disaster situations The island where I live with Crete the last period of the last few days is not covered by climate change We had 6.5% of disasters at home at school at university and yesterday we had a high level of 6.3% with a lot of disasters So the island the natural and natural phenomena the climate change the environmental conditions the morphological changes the climate change the crisis a major problem the global, regional, national European and global level What do you expect? What do you expect? The increase of the progress of the European climate and the second you expect to travel to all these levels measures, studies, works and activities that will have to take into account these issues I would like to give the floor now to our first Vice President Mr. Cordeiro Thank you Commissioner Lennersik Special Representative Mizzutori There are there are few fields of governance and of life of our communities where the importance of low level of climate change has been where the importance of local and regional authorities is so evident so clear and so decisive than when we're facing natural disasters When it's happening local and regional authorities are the first ones to arrive and the last ones to leave They're the first ones to whom people look for help for assistance and for aid And we have a clear example of that in a natural disaster that it's happening right now the volcanic eruption in Canary Islands So I think I can express the feeling of everyone in this chamber when I say that our talks and prayers are with the people of Canary Islands and with the authorities of Canary Islands So I join my voice to the voice of the ones that require a stronger consideration of the role of local and regional authorities in this matter But dear commissioner natural disasters in some cases are only the effects are only the consequences That's why we think that the role of local and regional authorities must be considered in a more proeminent way when we are talking about their intervention, our intervention in policies that can directly mean more control on the effects of natural disasters land management risks buildings rules and coastal areas and so other areas It's not worth to cry over spilled milk when we are facing natural disasters when in policies where the role of local and regional authorities can and makes the difference is not duly considered So I conclude my intervention with this appeal in this day of the reduction of the effects of natural disasters let us not only consider the importance of local and regional authorities when these kind of events are happening let us consider the role and the importance of local and regional authorities so that we can do something to avoid the most dramatic effects of natural disasters Thank you Thank you very much Mr. Vidal please from Renew Europe I have not yet this year I would like to thank myself for your contribution and your support Thank you It was important the government and parliament the quick preparation of reconstruction we did this In the federal level of the construction aid Act 2021, the affected population of 30 billion euros is available. And 12 billion euros of this have been damaged by the North and West falls. React, the EU leaders also flow into these areas. It shows that the border crossing cooperation in the area of high water and disaster protection is decisive. But the cooperation has to be further expanded, especially in the risk analysis in the field of extreme weather events and in the risk of damage to the border. For the North and West falls, we need more alive European cooperation, but not less. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Ms. Rosman, please. Thank you very much, Mr. President, colleagues and colleagues. Thank you for this important topic and everything that has already been said. I would also like to focus on this border crossing cooperation, also in the care of the region, Tirol, South Tirol, Trentino. Here we have a lot of joint projects such as weather radar, joint avalanche reports, joint disaster exercises. But we also have to look at those who are in the effort to ensure that they have no problems. We, as Tiroler Landtag 2019, invited the conference Science with Parliament to life or invited it, supported by the European Commission, in order to maintain and look at the conditions and see which themes we need for the future. The border crossing efforts often have a lot to do with insurance and housing issues. And here we also have to create the necessary framework conditions. In the next few months, we will also receive a text proposal for legal changes between the states. I think it is important that those who are in the effort to focus on the help of the local people and not have to deal with legal issues. And that is also a very important topic for us in this area. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Mr. Aguilar Vázquez, please. Thank you very much. The good part of the operational services involved in natural disasters, emergencies, health, social assistance are provided by regional administrations. That is why it would be very useful to transfer regions from national and European levels economic resources provided to its characteristics, taking into account the territorial tension, the dispersion of the population, and the natural characteristics. The European Union must provide an adequate, normative and financial framework to promote speed and flexibility in context of exceptional or unexpected crises. Global emergencies such as the COVID crisis show us that it is necessary that there is an adequate and clear framework that favors a context of flexibility and agility and increases the operability and speed of the response to the application of economic resources and European funds in this response. Thank you very much. Mr. Frey, please. Mr. Secretary, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for the information. I also pay special attention to some of my speakers, the side 4, where the potential for cooperation in the border regions is mentioned, where over 40% of our population lives. In this region, only a 180-degree angle is used to look at the situation, instead of looking at the cooperation with the neighbour and with the neighbour on the other side of the border. There are even more synergies here. That is why I think that the communication ways for warnings from the European to the local level are obligatory and are regularly checked. Second, disaster protection and evacuation concepts will be planned limitlessly. Third, these concepts in practice will be checked every five years limitlessly. Fourth, a unified communication network for rescue and security services in the border regions will be set up and fifth, the hospital capacities will be known limitlessly in real time. To do this, it is necessary that the local and regional level should be ready for their own security. Thank you very much, Mr. Cobor, please. Dear colleagues, climate change means, among others, the distribution of precipitation radically changed. After heat waves, weak storms and flashing fruits in a matter of seconds. In our city page, no river, our city is relatively dry city, therefore these events were shocking. Flashing fruits from the mountains made serious damage as it was in Belgium, for instance. However, in addition to acute protection measures and disaster management, a new approach is needed in the long term. We need to learn new city planning, less extra stone streets, more local water reservoirs, finned and open old creek beds, which were known by all predecessors in the city in the past. All of these disaster events will happen again and more often. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ali, please. Thank you, Mr. President, dear Commissioner, dear Ms. Mizzutari. The COVID-19 pandemic tested and assessed our crisis management and emergency response capacities at EU level and deepened our reflection towards a long-term vision and future-proof solutions in this field. Natural disaster crisis and emergencies, such as the forest fires we had this summer, require swift and targeted action aiming first at saving lives and the integrity of the concerned population. In order to provide an efficient and effective response, we should focus on three main axes of action. First, we should focus on building our capacities, preventive measures, and preparedness plans at regional and local levels. On prevention, we need the Commission's guidance on good governance, effective management and funding opportunities not only but also at regional and local levels. The preparedness plans must allow for effective and swift response to emergencies which should be assessed by national authorities and communicated to related EU services when the actual need occurs. Second, the cross-border regions are particularly sensitive to emergencies as they are often isolated. Therefore, the elaboration of cross-border projects of common interest including in the field of crisis management and the access of local and regional authorities to the related funding is of particular importance. Third, a crisis management and the emergency response are effective only if the necessary support is ensured in a timely manner. We need an EU response team ready to be deployed in times of critical emergencies. Finally, the integrity and the prosperity of our regions and local population is at the forefront of our political agendas. We need tailor-made solutions and concrete emergency response strategies. Thank you for your attention. Thank you. Mr. Torres Perez, please. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Armado, please. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. And our last intervention for today for this very interesting debate is Mr. Sousa Silva. Thank you. Thank you very much. Commissioner, after having heard our members and their concerns and ideas, I now give you the floor for your reaction. Thank you, President. I think you will agree that the number of interventions and their substance proves the interest of the representatives of local and regional authorities in the matter on the agenda that we are discussing now. And for me, it has been extremely useful and interesting to listen to your voices as always, as always. And I would like to thank Mr. Chirio for his role as a reporter on the Union Civil Protection Mechanism revision. This revision process has been successfully completed. We now have the mechanism which is more flexible, more effective, more robust. But you also mentioned the Solidarity Fund. As did some other speakers. I will now I will only say a few things about that because Solidarity Fund is under the responsibility of my colleague, Commissioner for Regional Affairs, Regional Affairs which is Cohesion and other structural funds. And there are some issues that we both, Commissioner Ferreira and myself share. First of all, the fact is the Solidarity Fund is small. It's a small bag of money. Second, the threshold to qualify for funding from Solidarity Fund is very high. As was mentioned by some, it's difficult to reach that threshold beyond which one would qualify for financial assistance from Solidarity Fund. I do think that there is a good case to, first, increase the funding available through Solidarity Fund and second, to lower the threshold so that more regions, more local communities that are affected by natural and other disaster would qualify for this expression of European Solidarity which is Solidarity Fund. But one also has to take into account the fact that so far the Solidarity Fund has not been conceived as being there to compensate entirely for the damage that has been incurred by localities, by the regions, by member states facing the natural and other disaster. Having said that, I repeat, there is a very strong case to increase the funding available and this is certainly a discussion in which, when it takes place, I will support such an increase also in view of the increased frequency and intensity of weather-related events that we're playing to see this summer alone. Mr. Patulis, I agree that we need to involve local authorities more. I'm trying to do that. I appear whenever invited before this committee and always with great pleasure and I thank President Sisi Kosoz for each invitation and also for his invitation to meet with the governors of Greek regions, in particular those that were affected by wildfires last summer. It's always very useful for me to hear directly from local and regional authorities about disaster risks, about disaster risk management and about the disaster management. I would nevertheless also invite you all to make sure that national authorities, authorities at the national level of member states are aware of your views because they are the ones that are officially our interlocutors in this and other matters. One should not forget that civil protection and that includes disaster risk reduction, disaster risk management is the competence of member states. The commission plays a supportive role, but we would like to play this role very actively, of course. On floods in Valonia, this was the first time ever for Belgium to ask for assistance from the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, which gives you an impression of how big a challenge this was. First time ever and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism has been there for 20 years now. Actually this year we marked 20th anniversary of the inception of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and this was the first time that Belgium activated this mechanism when faced with this unprecedented flood. I was glad to see that the member states responded quickly, immediately, so that we were able to channel through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism the assistance of more than 150 rescue workers from France, from Italy and from Austria to help local and regional services face the challenge that was brought about with these terrible floods. Mr. Boussous also reminded us of the importance to work on mitigation, because we probably will never be able to get prepared and to have the response capacity for ever, ever increasing intensity and frequency of weather-related disasters, which means we have to focus more on prevention, we have to focus more on mitigation and these are actually the issues that the Commission has tried to address with its proposals concerning Green Deal and FIT455. You will also recall that the Commission in its recovery and resilience instrument, which was prompted by the pandemic and the impact on the economy that the pandemic has brought, the Commission proposed this recovery and resilience plans in a way to address also the mitigation that we need to undertake in view of the climate change. That's why it requires at least 37 percent of recovery and resilience funds to be channeled to green transition. It is the green transition that is the key mitigation measure. It is a key prevention measure to reduce the disaster risk related to weather events in the future. And this is also related to what Mr. Chambetti said about the economic impact of the climate change. We hear now a lot of discussions about how much it will cost when we undertake green transition. How much it will cost if we abandon fossil fuels? More answer is it will cost many times more if we don't do this. It will cost many times more because the weather related events will be ever more intense and the damage from these events will be exorbitant if nothing is done now. And this also would be my answer to Mr. Strugawa. The importance of prevention is obvious in a simple information that I can share with you that every euro spent on prevention can save up to seven euro in response. So it's much cheaper to work in preventive measures. But there are of course things that we can no longer prevent and for those we must be prepared. We for instance cannot prevent volcano eruptions or earthquakes but we can improve our preparedness for those through the building code through other preparedness measures and thus reduce the disaster risk emanating from geological events. I agree with Mr. Di Sabato that today it's clear or at least should be clear to everyone that the climate crisis is already here and that we need to accelerate our work on adaptation and mitigation. And here we are looking very much at the conference of the state parties in Glasgow in a couple of weeks from now where the European Union would like to play a leading role in accelerating the international efforts towards climate adaptation and mitigation including towards the efforts towards the zero emission world. Mrs. Fernandez-Viania mentioned the resources. Yes we can use a lot of resources for disaster risk reduction. Not only the resources from Solidarity Fund which can help recovery because I already said that this fund is relatively small but also cohesion funds can be used in a smart manner so as to reduce the risk of disasters. Thank you Mr. Kurakis for mentioning CREITY and the ongoing earthquakes there. I discussed this with the Greek Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Mr. Stilyanidis just two days ago. The fact is that Greece is one of the areas that are most prone to various disasters, floods, wildfires and also earthquakes. And that's why I agreed with Minister Stilyanidis that we should work more closely together on various prevention and preparedness measures. On La Palma eruption I would like to note, and this goes to both interventions by Mr. Alves Cordero as well as Mr. Torres Perez, the drama continues. As we discussed here the drama on La Palma in the Canary Islands continues. There seems to be no end in sight. I would like here to express my sympathy and solidarity with the people of La Palma, especially those who lost their homes. But at the same time I wish to note that there is more than 1,000 emergency personnel already engaged. The Spanish services are able to cope with the situation and for the time being they did not seek the assistance from the Union Civil Protection mechanism. This assistance of course remains available if there is a need for that. But at the moment I can see that the Spanish responders are able to cope with the situation. I do hope myself that this situation will be over soon for the sake of people of La Palma and the Canaries. There has to be more EU cooperation, I agree with Mr. Vidal, especially in prevention and preparedness. And that's why in the revision of the Union Civil Protection mechanism that we have successfully negotiated and is now adopted we have decided to formulate disaster resilience goals at the European level. And this would also cover cross-border disaster risks that many of you mentioned. It's interesting to note that so far there has been no disaster resilience goals at the European level. Now we'll have them. We are working very closely with the member states on formulating these resilience goals. Also on the basis of various scenarios that can play out. And here I would again call on all regional and local authorities to give their feedback to national authorities in this exercise. I think that I have largely tried to answer all the issues raised, perhaps a reaction also to what Mr. Ali said, yes, this summer tested us all. It has tested local and regional authorities with all the floods and wildfires. It has tested national authorities and it has tested the European Union Civil Protection mechanism. And I'm glad to note that every single request for assistance that we received was answered. Every single one. Floods in Belgium, forest fires in Cyprus, in Greece, in Italy and so on. Every single request for assistance was met with response. Member states helped each other and this was, while it was a difficult test for us all, it was also a good summer for European solidarity which proved itself. And we do have a wonderful mechanism, wonderful heart of our Union Civil Protection mechanism which is called Emergency Response Coordination Center. This center works 24 hours, seven days a week and transfers any request for assistance in real time to all EU member states and then starts working on organizing and supporting the collective response. And this summer proved that it works well. Mr. Amayo mentioned the danger of desertification of Sicily. It's one of the impacts that we can expect from climate change. And that's again, that just tells us that we need to act. There is no time to lose. We need to act. We need to work on adaptation, on mitigation. There are a variety of measures that can reduce the danger that we can already see coming. You mentioned reforestation. We can also discuss various land management issues, forest management issues. There is a lot we can do. And I will now conclude on this point what exactly can be done. We can only answer to this question if we have input from you also. So I would conclude with my invitation again to all regional and local authorities to make your input when it comes to disaster risk reduction, disaster risk management, not only to your national authorities, which bear the primary responsibility for civil protection, but also to our European system through the Knowledge Network that we are now setting up. I would like to conclude, Mr. President, with appreciation for this extremely informative and rich exchange. I do remain available to you and members of the Committee of the Regents for further exchanges. And I thank you again for giving me this opportunity. Thank you. Commissioner, I want to thank you myself for being here for us. It's very important that in these turbulent and difficult times we have someone like you standing by the regions and the cities of Europe in difficult times, especially in times of crisis. And just as I witnessed your work during this past summer in Greece, I am sure that a lot of our colleagues have witnessed as well how dedicated you are and productive in what you do here in the Commission vis-à-vis the crisis management. And I want you to know that you can also view us, regions and cities of Europe and the European Committee of Regents as your strongest ally in the effort you are doing to create this mechanism. I congratulate you again, and I thank you very much for being here today. I would like to give the floor now to Ms. Mizutori for her final remarks before I say goodbye to the Commissioner. Thank you very much, President. Thank you once again for inviting me to this very, very important debate. I have heard a clear urgency in the voices and the language of the esteemed delegates. Commissioner has given a very, very comprehensive response, but I would like to offer some reflections. First, rapid and effective response after disaster strikes is crucial, and we have seen that done in Europe this summer. However, as many delegates mentioned, with the intensity and frequency of disasters of all kinds getting higher and higher, we need to prevent better. We need to have more disastrous production. We cannot wait until disasters come and strike us. And that is why last year, just before COVID started, Commissioner and myself, we signed a letter together asking member states, requesting member states, to have their national strategies for disastrous production. Now, these strategies have to, and I'm echoing the voices of the delegates, have to understand that disasters do not respect borders, so regional cooperation is very important. We need to also know that disasters affect all of us, but not in the same way. The most vulnerable people have to be protected and have to be made agents of change. And cities, the cities are the ones that the building of resilience is urgent. It must be done now. So, let us work together to implement the joint plan of action of the Making City Resilient 2030 to save lives, livelihoods, economies, and to support the cities which are at the front line. Prevention saves lives. We know that, but we need to do that. My final words, natural disaster. These are words that we all use in the UN system, and here we are debating about natural disasters, but I think we have to stop thinking, are they really natural? Because many times disasters are a result of our no action or action that creates disaster, like constructing houses in a flood plain, knowing that it is a dangerous area. So, perhaps we need to stop thinking that disasters are not natural, and we have the power to make sure that disasters do not impact us as they do, as they did this summer in Europe. Finally, I welcome everybody to the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction next month, 2426 in Matushinos, Portugal, because I am sure that this very important dialogue debate will continue in Portugal. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Ms. Mizutori, for your dedication, and we are really looking forward to working with you, the Committee of Regents, with you and with Commissioner Lenardcic to see how we will go forward with the regional resilience platform that I think we all agree on. So thank you again, Ms. Mizutori. Thank you for your physical presence, Commissioner, and we are really looking forward in working with you and collaborating in order to give the best possible response and tackling all the major crises that could have ahead of us. Thank you very much, Commissioner.