mr president i wish to thank parliament for the opportunity to exchange views on disaster prevention and mr ferreira in particular for his continued interest in the subject
the disasters of last year were a salutary reminder that the eu and its member states need to step up work on disaster prevention
we need to be ambitious
we all know that investing in disaster prevention pays off
at the same time ensuring cost-effective and increased investment in disaster prevention is a challenge
we are now assessing the effectiveness of existing eu financing instruments
we are also developing a catalogue of prevention measures that would be considered by member states for eu funding
our objective is to increase the impact of eu funding and to accelerate the implementation of regional fund support
we are also looking at innovative financing instruments such as insurance pooling to share risks
effective investments in disaster prevention will help to save lives limit damages and ultimately save money
actions are also under way to improve our knowledge of disasters
we have worked with the european environment agency on a report assessing the frequency of disasters in europe and their impact on humans the economies and ecosystems
we also need clear and transparent assessments of the risks we face
on twenty-one december last year we issued a guidance paper on national risk assessment and mapping to encourage member states in fostering a comprehensive risk-management culture
developing fully-fledged risk management policies will require the involvement of all actors
the increased frequency and intensity of disasters in europe should also provide further incentives for member states to invest in preparedness and build up their capacity
besides the prevention elements it is equally important that member states and europe as a whole are able to provide the best possible response
in october last year we outlined our policy proposal for a european disaster-response capacity
our objective is to improve the efficiency the coherence and the visibility of the eu's response to disasters
