Text tabled : A7-0332/2010

  Jean-Pierre Audy (PPE), in writing. – (FR) Given the numerous serious disasters in the world and their increasing frequency, caused mainly by climate change, I voted for the excellent report by my Italian colleague, Mrs Zanicchi, containing a proposal for a European Parliament recommendation to the Council on setting up a rapid response capability. The moment has come to improve the EU’s disaster response in terms of efficiency, coordination and visibility. It is becoming more and more urgent to create a European rapid response capability, or ‘European civil protection force’, as Mr Barnier has suggested. Clearly, the coordination of national civil protection forces seems to be a useful means of assisting a Member State which could not cope on its own with a large-scale disaster (fire, flood, natural disaster, and so on). This European civil protection force would also be very useful for intervening in external situations such as in Haiti. At a time when we are going to celebrate, in 2011, the European Year of Volunteering, an action such as this would trigger European interest and could help to consolidate European citizenship.