EC publishes new call Union Civil Protection Mechanism Exercises

The European Commission has published a new call under the programme Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). Deadline for submitting applications is June 7, 2017. For the call Union Civil Protection Mechanism Exercises ( UCPM-2017-EX-AG) is a budget available of € 4.9 million, divided in External Action Grants (€ 1,300,000) and Internal Action Grants (€ 3,600,000).

The purpose of the call is to enable and support exercise projects which provide opportunities in controlled environments to asses, learn from and improve the response capability of Participating States of the Mechanism and the European Commission. The objective is to improve civil protection preparedness and response to all kinds of disasters, including marine pollution, and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN) disasters, as well as combined disasters and disasters simultaneously affecting a number of countries (inside or outside the participating states of the Mechanism) by providing a testing environment of established and/or new operational concepts and procedures of the Mechanism and a learning opportunity for all actors involved in civil protection assistance interventions under the Mechanism.

The UCPM is intended to support and complement Member States' action at national, regional and local level in risk prevention, in preparedness and in responding to natural or man-made disasters. When disasters strike a country, within the European Union or outside, the Mechanism allows for the necessary operational resources to be mobilised to assist and provide a prompt response. In this context each year DG ECHO publishes two calls for proposals to fund activities aimed at closer cooperation in prevention, preparedness and awareness-raising in civil protection and marine pollution: Prevention and preparedness in civil protection and marine pollution (2017 budget € 8.6 million) and Union Civil Protection Mechanism Exercises (2017 budget € 4.9 million).