Borders continue to hamper emergency responses

Lives continue to be put at risk by administrative problems that hamper emergency services crossing the EU's internal borders, local and regional leaders have warned. In recommendations adopted at the European Committee of the Regions on 20 November, they urged national governments and regional authorities to step up efforts to reach agreements with their neighbours to enable emergency teams across borders.

The CoR's recommendations, which are partly informed by experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, will contribute to ongoing negotiations on a long-delayed EU regulation, the 'Facilitating Cross-Border Solutions' (FCBS) regulation, which seeks to provide national and regional governments with a framework to enable them to eliminate obstacles to cross-border collaboration. The CoR supports the regulation.

The CoR suggests that the EU could encourage national and regional administrations by producing and sharing a "template" for cross-border agreements on emergency services, drawing on examples of legal solutions and operational protocols used across the EU.

The opinion was drafted by Pavel Branda (CZ/ECR), deputy mayor of Rádlo, whose community lies close to the Czech border with Germany and Poland. Mr Branda said that, without cross-border agreements, emergency responses can be prevented or slowed down by - for example - non-recognition of professional qualifications, driving licences, equipment, and insurance.

The opinion notes that, in extraordinary large-scale crises, cross-border cooperation among emergency services is relatively smooth thanks to EU legislation and inter-state agreements. However, everyday cross-border cooperation among rescue services is complicated by legal and administrative barriers, financial issues, and technical obstacles, such as communications systems. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that such problems remain in many areas, despite decades of growing cross-border cooperation agreed at the regional or national level.

The CoR praised a proposal from the European Commission for a European Health Data Space (EHDS) as a potentially "very helpful" way to support the secure exchange of health data.

Limited language skills remain a significant additional concern. Recommended responses range from greater use of real-time translation technologies and targeted training to early language education in border regions.

The CoR opinion, which says that some obstacles "could easily be removed if the EU acquis were properly implemented", identifies ways in which national and regional governments can use EU funding programmes, regulatory frameworks, and dedicated cross-border mechanisms to enhance cross-border cooperation, regional integration, and resilience. It particularly notes that an increasingly popular legal mechanism intended to ease cooperation between border regions - European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) - has proved "very effective", including during the pandemic.

Quote:

Pavel Branda (CZ/ECR), Deputy Mayor of Rádlo and CoR rapporteur on 'Solving obstacles to the cooperation of emergency services in the EU's border regions': "The recommendations in the opinion identify the steps that need to be taken to strengthen cross-border cooperation in emergency services. On many borders, ambulances or fire trucks cannot cross the border despite this endangering people's lives, and people cannot use the hospitals closest to them as they are on the other side of the border. Examples like this call to move towards a situation in which emergency services can automatically be provided and data can be retrieved on both sides of the border by removing unnecessary obstacles. As someone who represents a border region, I know first-hand the importance of cross border cooperation, and the real-life impact it has on cross-border communities."

Background information:

On 14 November, in Budapest, the CoR officially launched the European Cross-Border Platform, the successor of the Platform for European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs), which aims to gather together all actors in cross-border cooperation, from border cities and regions to EGTCs and Euroregions. So far, over 130 stakeholders have joined the new platform, which will be run in partnership with the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives (CESCI), and the Transfrontier Operational Mission (MOT).