The Federal Council Prepares to Join the EU Crisis Mechanism
Published: Tuesday, Sep 26th 2023, 09:52
Updated At: Friday, Oct 13th 2023, 14:12
Back to Live Feed
The Swiss Parliament has unanimously voted in favour of joining the EU's disaster relief procedure. This procedure provides coordination and response measures to better manage natural disasters, which can affect any country regardless of its borders. Switzerland would benefit from full access to the response capacities of the 27 EU member states and 8 non-EU states, as well as to the cross-border expertise, training programs and expert networks. The Swiss Federal Council has also expressed its approval of the motion, stating that it would strengthen the national population protection and civil defence. The Federal Council must now prepare the application for membership. The procedure was introduced by the EU in 2001 and has been increasingly used by several member states, such as for deploying fire engines in neighbouring countries.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic