prijava
SARAJEVO, December 12 (FENA) - The project "EU for Better Civil Protection - Building and Strengthening Capacities and Preparation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the EU Civil Protection Mechanism" is of utmost importance for civil protection structures in BiH, among other things, for its accession to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, it was underlined today in Sarajevo at the conference "Preparing Bosnia and Herzegovina for the EU Civil Protection Mechanism".
Since March this year, this project has been implemented by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, as the head of the Consortium with a partner from BiH, the Association for Risk Management - AZUR, which were selected through an international public call by the EU Delegation to BiH.
The project lasts two years (2019-2021), and is fully funded by the European Union through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), worth approximately EUR 1.5 million, intended for training, exercises, plans, assessments and other documents. The beneficiaries are Ministry of Security of BiH, FBiH Administration of Civil Protection, RS Administration of Civil Protection, Department of Public Safety of the Brčko District and local communities.
Head of Operations Section for Justice, Home Affairs and Public Administration Reform in the EU Delegation to BiH, Nicolas Bizel, said that this project primarily aims to prepare Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and make it a full member of the Mechanism.
“When the magnitude of a particular emergency exceeds a country's capacity to respond, it may seek assistance through this mechanism. At this point, BiH is already receiving such assistance through this mechanism, under its status as a third-party country,” Bizel said.
He recalled that this was already happening with the flood response in 2014.
Bizel noted that during the recent earthquake incidents in Albania, the EU Mechanism was promptly activated and search and rescue teams from Greece, Italy and Romania were dispatched immediately and assistance from a total of 20 member states was delivered.
He explained that before joining the Mechanism, the European Union must make sure that there is a well-functioning civil protection mechanism within BiH.
“When rivers are flooding their beds, when the ground is shaking, when the forests are on fire, we want to make sure that everyone is working as one to provide the quickest aid. The EU's "Better Civil Protection" project and the entire EU are here in BiH to do exactly that and to make BiH fully qualified for full membership in this mechanism,” Bizel said.
Coordinator of this project on behalf of the BiH Ministry of Security, Idriz Brković, emphasized that this project is a precondition for BiH's admission to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
He explained that this is important for BiH because we will accelerate the implementation of EU standards in the field of protection and rescue and that we will have the possibility of faster access to EU funds.
It is very important that, through this project, in addition to the funds of close to one and a half million euros, through the second Lot, we will acquire one million euro worth of equipment for the debris rescue team in RS and in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for early detection of emergency situations, primarily when it comes to fires,” said Brković.
He added that, through this project, we will have fully train rescue teams based on EU standards, for debris rescue, water rescue and teams that set up camps in the situations such as the migrant crisis in BiH, which will enhance the entire emergency response and rescue system in the country.
(FENA) S. R.
