Kurilovska: Being Prepared for Crises Costly, But Being Unprepared Even More So

Copenhagen, 23 July (TASR) - An informal meeting of EU interior ministers that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark on Tuesday (22 July) focused on strengthening civil protection, return policy and better management of illegal migration, with Slovkia being represented at the meeting by Interior Ministry State Secretary Lucia Kurilovska. Representatives of EU-member states agreed on the need to strengthen civil protection capacities, specified Interior Ministry spokesman Matej Neumann in a press release that he provided to TASR. According to him, the emphasis wasn't put solely on material and personnel support or education, but also on making coordination more efficient at the level of the entire EU. The discussion highlighted the functioning of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and implementing the approved Union Preparedness Strategy. The new system should be built on proactive crisis management, including strategic foresight, early warning tools and integrated risk assessment. "Slovakia views this issue as extremely important, including in the context of the upcoming crisis management reform. The number and frequency of threats are increasing, and emergencies often exceed the capacities of individual countries. The Commission's coordinating and supporting role is therefore irreplaceable here. Being prepared will cost us a lot of money, but being unprepared would cost us much more," stated Kurilovska. According to Eurostat data, only around a quarter of nationals from third countries staying illegally in the EU are returned to their home countries. Many member states have therefore set up specialised offices and return centres to offer support and incentives to rejected asylum seekers to return voluntarily. According to the Slovak Interior Ministry, this situation raises the issue of legislative unification of approaches at the level of EU and Schengen zone countries. Slovakia also supports a stronger role for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in the return process with an adequate strengthening of its mandate. "We shouldn't forget that for the European return system to be effective, it would be ideal to start by minimising illegal arrivals in the EU. The next step is cooperation with third countries through positive and negative motivation and sufficient information about the benefits of voluntary returns," added Kurilovska. ko/df