What is it?
The European Commission upgraded the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and created rescEU to further protect citizens from disasters and to manage emerging risks.
rescEU is a strategic reserve of European disaster response capabilities and stockpiles, fully funded by the EU. It comprises:
- a fleet of firefighting planes and helicopters
- a medical evacuation plane
- emergency medical specialist teams
- several medical and CBRN strategic stockpiles, including:
- field hospitals
- transport assets
- energy and shelter items
- critical medical supplies
- equipment to respond to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) emergencies
rescEU reserves are hosted in strategic locations across 22 Member States and participating states.
Why is this important?
The EU plays a key role in coordinating disaster response efforts both within Europe and beyond. In recent years, disasters have impacted every region of Europe, resulting in hundreds of casualties and causing billions in damage to infrastructure and the environment
Epidemics, flash floods, storms, wildfires, earthquakes, and human-induced disasters continuously put pressure on the countries’ crisis response capacities. Additionally, growing security concerns, coupled with the worsening effects of climate change, are expected to exacerbate the frequency and severity of disasters in the future.
Conflict on the European continent, extreme weather events and emerging threats, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can limit the ability of Member States to help each other, especially when several countries simultaneously face the same type of crisis.
How are we helping?
When a disaster strikes, any country in Europe and across the globe can request assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
Once activated, the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre channels assistance offered by EU Member States and additional participating states to the affected country.
In overwhelming cases, the EU can also mobilise the rescEU reserve, which serves as an additional layer of protection for European citizens, filling potential gaps and guaranteeing an even more effective disaster response.
War in Ukraine
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and related needs within the country and the surrounding region, the EU has deployed medical evacuation services as well as assistance from its rescEU energy, shelter, medical and CBRN stockpiles hosted in various locations across the EU.
It also encompasses power generators to help Ukrainians meet their basic needs and thousands of shelters to host those displaced by the war across the country.
The rescEU assistance comes on top of aid offered by European countries and coordinated under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. Collectively, this is the largest and most complex EU civil protection operation since the creation of the Mechanism in 2001.
rescEU at a glance
Wildfire fleet
To strengthen the EU’s response to wildfires, the Commission finances the stand-by availability of a firefighting fleet. In light of several record-breaking wildfire seasons across Europe, rescEU is being continuously reinforced to make more aerial means available every year.
The deployment of these resources is decided jointly by the Commission and relevant Member States, ensuring a coordinated and efficient response. This initiative complements other measures under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, including the use of pre-positioned ground firefighting teams to ensure a prompt response in wildfire-prone countries.
For the longer term, the European Commission has allocated significant financial resources to the acquisition of 12 new firefighting planes to be based in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, and Greece, and 3 helicopters to be based in Slovakia, Czechia, and Romania. These aircraft will form the "permanent rescEU fleet".
The first helicopter has already been delivered to Romania. Final technical and operational procedures are still underway, but it will be ready for the 2026 fires season. The first planes are expected to be delivered early 2028.
The EU has established strategic stockpiles to respond more quickly to needs caused by serious cross-border health and CBRN threats, including COVID-19 pandemic or large-scale human induced disasters. The reserve enables the swift delivery of items, including different types of therapeutics, vaccines, medical devices, CBRN and personal protective equipment.
Currently, partly in cooperation with the EU’s Health Emergency Response Authority (HERA), 22 rescEU stockpiles are being developed by 16 different Member States across Europe. Of these 17 are fully operational.
A rescEU aerial medical evacuation (MedEvac) capability for critical carepatients, including burn patients and in need of high-level isolation, is operational and has also been used in the context of the war on Ukraine. This MedEvac capacity will be further complemented with additional assets currently being developed.
Moreover, the EU granted funds to a consortium consisting of 7 Member States and one participating state of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to develop the rescEU Emergency Medical Team (EMT), the first pan-European field hospital.
The rescEU EMT, currently under development, aims to become the largest field hospital globally, providing a modular, highly specialised medical response to disasters.
People may be exposed to CBRN agents due to unintentional disasters or intentional attacks. The Commission is developing strategic capabilities to respond to these threats.
rescEU decontamination capabilities as well as detection, sampling, identification, and monitoring capabilities are currently being developed. The former will boost the capacity of the EU to decontaminate infrastructure, vehicles, buildings, critical equipment and affected people. The latter will be used to carry out search activities and respond to security events, while proactively increasing the level of surveillance and monitoring.
Both types of capabilities might be available for pre-positioning ahead of high-visibility events or major public events.
Once available, rescEU detection, sampling, identification, and monitoring resources will serve as a key enhancement towards better EU preparedness.
Access to emergency shelter is crucial in providing people with a safe and secure place to live in the aftermath of a disaster or emergency.
Through rescEU, the EU is creating reserves of high-quality emergency shelter units, including light prefabricated structures, flat-pack containers, emergency tents and other essential items designed to assist the affected population.
The living units are complemented by other facilities such as showers and toilets, industrial or self-catered kitchens, laundry, and communal areas, with special attention paid to creating safe spaces for children and the most vulnerable. Environmental considerations were also prominently considered when setting up such capacity.
This shelter reserve will be hosted by 7 Member States and participating states and strategically stored across the continent to ensure rapid deployment in various settings and scenarios.
In 2022, part of this emergency shelter capacity was rapidly developed to support people affected by the war on Ukraine. In 2023, it was also deployed to host those who lost their homes after the earthquakes in Türkiye. The rest of the capacities are becoming gradually operational.
The need to strengthen transport and logistics resources under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has become increasingly evident during recent EU civil protection response operations.
For example, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed challenges for the transport of medical assets, vaccines, personnel, and patients, including in contexts with high security risks.
A new transport and logistics reserve encompasses 2 planes able to transport people, for example during consular evacuations and repatriations, and cargo, whenever needed.
A dedicated asset will also focus on the evacuation of medical patients (currently under development).
Be it about powering shelter units or critical infrastructure after a natural hazard or conflict, energy is a basic need irrespectively of the scenario at stake.
To ensure the EU Civil Protection Mechanism is well equipped for future purposes, the EU created a reserve of emergency energy supply assets under rescEU. Its main task is to provide emergency backup power under different emergency scenarios.
The rescEU energy reserve is comprised of thousands of generators of different sizes. These range from smaller sizes, capable of powering single households, to much larger models suitable for keeping public buildings and vital community services running such as hospitals and central heating points.
In response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, rescEU has deployed thousands of generators to Ukraine, helping hospitals and other critical infrastructure maintain basic services.
Facts & figures
rescEU is an integral part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, providing an additional layer of protection against disasters for European citizens.
rescEU strengthens Europe’s disaster preparedness by establishing strategic reserves of emergency response capacities, such as:
- firefighting planes and helicopters
- emergency specialised medical and CBRN teams
- strategic stockpiles of medical and CBRN countermeasures
- shelter
- emergency transport
- power generators
These capacities are hosted across 22 Member States and participating states.
This page was last updated on 16 February 2026