The EU has launched a crisis preparedness strategy and more

Posted by NickMeAnotherTime@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 50 comments

While media is bolstering the 72 hour preparedness concept, I am going through the strategy and it details and highlights a lot of areas including from a personal, to large societal preparedness in terms infrastructure (such as hospital etc.) to topics such migration, technology, climate and other. They mention a lot of things and stop short of SHTF scenarios. I am impressed that they managed to settle on this and now it's going to become actionable (like they want states to take higher ownership of preparedness, they want to teach this stuff in school and so forth). Europe is waking up, maybe to late, either way, guys there is no going back from here. :)

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myOEburner@reddit

Western Europe has been a sinking ship for a long time now. If you look at their share of global GDP over the decades, they're losing big time. It's high time they join reality and get their act together. Britan was right to exit.

Eager to see our European friends re-imagine their spending on what they consider to be "rights." I think the riots will be next-level.

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Sleeper-of-Rlyeh@reddit

Britain didnt really profit from leaving in any way and most people quickly changed there mind and wanted back in lol

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myOEburner@reddit

But they're not mired in the mess that is the EU and will not be subject to absurd EU policy. A first world nation with independence is far better that a first world nation being subject to collectivism. As the EU collapses, Britain will be glad they exited.

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Euphoric_Regret_544@reddit

jesus you are so clueless

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myOEburner@reddit

Alright. I look forward to the "entitlement riots" when Western Europe realizes that defense costs money and they've enjoyed America's supreme protection at the great expense to the American taxpayer. And that they've squandered their opportunity to become a powerful economic block.

You think the French pension age increase was a one-and-done? Ha! Okay.

Buckle up.

🍿

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Gullintani@reddit

Britain is far closer to collapsing than the other European nations. They are running on vapour and the economy is teetering on the brink of disaster. The EU policies may be mad, but Britain just says " hold my beer" and comes out with worse! They are fast becoming the sick man of Europe.

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myOEburner@reddit

We'll see. They said that years ago. Still hasn't happened. I do agree that it's going to take a long time to work the collectivist toxins out of the system.

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Holiday_Albatross441@reddit

Britain didnt really profit from leaving in any way and most people quickly changed there mind and wanted back in lol

Britain didn't profit because the government didn't want Brexit and did everything possible to wreck it. They could have slashed regulation, opened trade and investment deals with the rest of the world without EU bureaucracy... and didn't.

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funnysasquatch@reddit

This isn't EU suddenly realizing you should be prepared.

It's a PR campaign around preparing the continent for getting on board with sending troops to Ukraine to fight Russia.

That being said, if this gets people to make sure they have some extra food, water, and flashlights on hand when the lights go out because the lights go out for whatever reason, that's a positive thing.

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AlexeyKubarev@reddit

I am from Belgium, and I'm afraid I have to agree with you. At this point it seems like it is about priming the population to accept the increase in defence spending at the cost of social programs, rather than actually raising societal and governmental resilience.

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NerminPadez@reddit

It's a PR campaign around preparing the continent for getting on board with sending troops to Ukraine to fight Russia.

Yep, this.

Our official recommendation has been 10 days of supplies for quite a few years now, 14 days before that, but now they started with the '3 days' eu propaganda.

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newbienewme@reddit

norwegian here.

I think our government is actually preparing for SHTF.

seems like at every level of government they are looking to fix vulnerabilities now.

they are spending money on our own defense like crazy. but also looking to harden infrastructure and even making plans for rationing for stockpiling.

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tianavitoli@reddit

they're preparing to engage in hot war with russia

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newbienewme@reddit

jup

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whygamoralad@reddit

Living in the UK and recently going Poland, I think it's more so the US doing something stupid Europe is preparing for.

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ColdYeosSoyMilk@reddit

Good EU needs to be more proactive, don't threaten your parents with moving out and getting a job, that's what we want

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RecycledPanOil@reddit

Who's the parents here?

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_TheCollector_@reddit

Who's paying who's bills?

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Holiday_Albatross441@reddit

Americans have been paying the EU's bills for decades. The EU couldn't afford big defence budgets without cutting welfare spending or massively raising taxes, but they could live high on the hog so long as Americans paid to defend them instead.

But it is kind of funny.

Trump: "Increase your defence spending because we're not paying for all of NATO any more."

Europe: "No"

Trump: "OK, we're thinking about pulling out of NATO."

Europe: "We're going to increase defence spending just to show him he can't push us around."

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WhereDidAllTheSnowGo@reddit

Isn’t this basically what FEMA did?

I mean, as the EU evolves from independent to federated to integrated states it make sense they’ll start to have ‘nationwide’ plans and organizations rather than just more-local ones

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Khakikadet@reddit

I skimmed their 18 page document, and no, this is not the same vibe as what FEMA says, in that we should generally have a 72 hour kit.

This is the document in question: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/circabc-ewpp/d/d/workspace/SpacesStore/b81316ab-a513-49a1-b520-b6a6e0de6986/file.bin

It's 18 pages, and admittedly I only skimmed it, but essentially, it's not like any plan I've read in the US. FEMA is more geared toward natural disasters, this is more of a roadmap in preparation of triggering Article 5. It talks about civil, military, and private cooperation, early warning systems, and having a plan in the event of article 5, or the types of attacks and disruptions that would be just under triggering article 5. I have never, and likely will never, fear invasion as an American.

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pajamakitten@reddit

We do not really get a lot of natural disasters in Europe, especially EU countries. You get floods, and the occasional wildfire or earthquake, however war is always going to be our biggest risk.

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SpecialOk8498@reddit

Aren't wildfires becoming a bigger risk nowadays?

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JerarB@reddit

For wildfires, you need forests. Not a lot of those left in north-westen europe. France, Spain and Portugal do, but here in Belgium, or the Netherlands, there's virtually no risk. We don't even have wild animals except stray cats and bobers.

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PrepperBoi@reddit

Does the EU not maintain a lot of strategic stockpiles of critical supplies and equipment?

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whygamoralad@reddit

You just got to worry about civil wars which is a bit scarier to be honest

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Bobby_Marks3@reddit

I have never, and likely will never, fear invasion as an American.

Us Americans should open our history books and our eyes to the realities of war

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Khakikadet@reddit

If we had 11 nuclear aircraft carriers, and fleet of submarines a the time, I'm sure the war of 1812 may have played out a little differently.

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RecycledPanOil@reddit

In a scenario where the US does get invaded these wouldn't be on the table because it'd have to occur as a result of total internal collapse or partial collapse of the US as a result of internal or external pressures causing a collapse of the systems that regulate the country resulting in a situation where a military coup occurred. A very real possibility in the coming years. Such a situation would result in neighbouring countries invading in order to stabilise a region with high amounts of people with ethnic or national connections. In this scenario for survivalism you'd either flee to a safe part of the country or to another country to prevent yourself from being persecuted by advancing armies. An example here would be Ukraine 2014.

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Khakikadet@reddit

Yeah anyway, and I was saying, I have never, and likely will never, fear invasion as an American.

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MmeHomebody@reddit

And now other countries have them as well, and this regime is going out of its way to antagonize them...

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preppers-ModTeam@reddit

Your comment has been removed for being "Not focused on prepping/Off-Topic - Political."

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JL3Eleven@reddit

Maybe those other countries could use that power to defend Ukraine with out Daddy America?

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Goetta_Superstar10@reddit

No, other countries most definitely do not have 11 aircraft carriers.

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JL3Eleven@reddit

Tell me you don't own a gun without telling me.

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needanewnameonreddit@reddit

Very fair point. I've seen a lot of folks downplaying this paper. This isn't just about pandemic recovery — it's a full-spectrum crisis readiness plan covering war, cyberattacks, natural disasters, and GSC collapse/impacts.

Why now? Because the EU openly admits that the COVID pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and rising climate chaos exposed serious holes in how Europe handles large-scale emergencies. The new plan lays out seven major areas of action: early warning systems, societal resilience, public education, public-private coordination, civil-military planning, crisis response infrastructure, and international cooperation (including with NATO). They’re focusing heavily on dual-use infrastructure, meaning assets that work for both civilian life and defense — roads, communications, energy, and logistics hubs.

This is a clear sign yet that governments are starting to plan for systemic, overlapping crises as the new normal. The same way COVID changed how we think about public health, this shift is about changing how we think about national survival.

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MrHmuriy@reddit

The fact that Europe has started to prepare is a good thing. But at the very least, Europeans need to take another important step - to overcome open hostility to gun ownership. Ukraine was able to survive the first months of the war largely because there were a lot of armed citizens here

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Albion-Chap@reddit

Ukraine was able to survive the first months of the war largely because there were a lot of armed citizens here

This is a gross oversimplification

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MrHmuriy@reddit

The first month of the war I spent in Chernihiv, which was besieged by the Russians at the time. They didn't manage to capture it largely because there were a lot of armed volunteers and people who were getting their weapons just on the streets

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tianavitoli@reddit

they're preparing to engage openly in hot war with russia

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OnTheEdgeOfFreedom@reddit

|large societal preparedness in terms infrastructure (such as hospital etc.) ...and stop short of SHTF scenarios.

Um. Infrastructure fails are "SHTF" in my book. You get hospitals closing, or major grid fails long term, or problems with water and sewage, you get loss of life.

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ApprehensiveFile8735@reddit

But how many people will follow through with the plan. No one wants to spend more money in this tight economy. Even myself I only spend $30-50 a week on prepping and that's spending money that could definitely go towards funner things or retirement

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DifferenceSuper3017@reddit

Do you have a Link?

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NickMeAnotherTime@reddit (OP)

I don't have a link per se in English, but I've seen it on tv and read Romanian news articles. Google is your best friend. ;)

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DifferenceSuper3017@reddit

You can change the Language on the Website. I didn‘t hear anything about it in German News

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NickMeAnotherTime@reddit (OP)

https://commission.europa.eu/topics/preparedness_en

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rozina076@reddit

Glad Europe is waking up. I wish there was more common acceptance of the need to take personal responsibility for preparing against foreseeable events [local power outage, bad weather, etc.] and much more impetus with community input and communication with local and other levels of government.

So many people don't even know who their neighbors are, and so many neighborhoods have no sense of real community. I know I am old. I used to play in the streets until the streets lights came on. I used to go to block parties that were held by the neighborhood. People sat in front of their homes on a pleasant evening and just chatted with the people on either side. You didn't have to agree with their opinions about anything, be the same religion or political party. You just were neighborly and a bit friendly.

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