Released on: November 6, 2007, 10:28 am

Press Release Author: NEWSS

Industry: Financial

Press Release Summary: Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bayokannis on Monday urged fellow
EU nations to relaunch a plan for a European civil protection force, following
devastating forest fires across the country.

Press Release Body: The minister, who met with European Environment Commissioner
Stavros Dimas, plans to discuss with her EU counterparts next month a force which
\"would have planes and trained personnel at its disposition in member states,\" said
Greek spokesman Vassilis Karavassilis.

Athens sees a basis for such a force in a report by former French foreign minister
Michel Barnier who last year put forward a dozen measures to improve the EU\'s
capacity to handle international crises.

These included pooling existing resources between member states and the possibility
of the EU centrally acquiring a cache of planes and vehicles donated by EU nations.

The ambitious report has remained just that, with major EU nations including
Britain, Germany and the Netherlands deeming civil protection to be a matter of
national competence.

\"The situation has changed,\" said Karavassilis, claiming support from Spain,
Portugal and France.

Currently European collaboration on disasters is funnelled through the European
Commission\'s Monitoring and Information Centre which receives alerts day and night
and requests for assistance from affected countries.

Greece has received help from 12 fellow EU nations. The biggest effort came from
France which sent four firefighting Canadair planes and 60 firefighters.

The Commission itself is working on less ambitious proposals such as setting up
specialised groups to deal with various catastrophes including fire, earthquakes and
flooding.

The forest fires that ravaged southern Greece for the past 11 days, killing dozens
of people, were finally extinguished Monday, Greek fire services said.

At least 64 people have been killed in the Peloponnese peninsula and other areas and
200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of countryside was destroyed.

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Contact Details: Athens, Greece