The surprising emergence of the EU as crisis manager

There are few reasons to expect the European Union (EU) to play a role in the management of crises and disasters. The response to such events has traditionally been the remit of national governments. What could the EU – often depicted as a bureaucratic talk shop – possibly add to the efforts of national and local governments?

Quite a bit, as this book reveals. The member states have invested the EU with a significant amount of what we refer to as “crisis management capacity.” While often reluctant to transfer more authority to Brussels, member states have shown a sustained willingness to enhance the EU's crisis management capacities. After a large-scale crisis or disaster, member states routinely call for additional EU capacities to coordinate, link, or integrate their response capacities. Few European Council meetings conclude without some call for more crisis cooperation.

The EU has indeed become more visible as a crisis manager in recent years. Consider the following examples:

• In January 2010, a massive earthquake struck Haiti. The EU coordinated the humanitarian response of its member states, sent a police force of 200 Europeans, and created a relief fund for the devastated island.

• In the early months of 2011, popular revolts broke out across northern Africa and the Middle East. The EU sent its High Representative, Catherine Ashton, to newly liberated countries to assess how the EU could help their democratic development. The EU imposed an arms embargo on Libya and discussed the imposition of a no-flight zone. Meanwhile, the southern member states appealed to the EU for a coordinated response to the feared exodus of young Arabs seeking a better future on the European continent.

• In the spring of 2011, a vicious E. coli (EHEC) epidemic in Germany caused the deaths of over 40 people. After Germany informed the European Commission through the EU’s Early Warning and Response System, the Commission’s DG Sanco (Directorate General for Health & Consumers) took the lead in coordinating an EU-wide investigation and control measures.

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