BALTPREP has been granted flagship status by the EUSBSR

The decision was made on February, 5 by the National Coordinators of the EU Strategy for EUSBSR. Projects and processes named Flagships of the EUSBSR demonstrate especially well the progress of this EU Strategy.

– The flagship status demonstrates the importance of the good work the project has been doing in strenghtening the regional response capacity and collaboration between the Red Cross and the civil protection authorities in the Baltic Sea region, explains Eeva Maijala from the Finnish Red Cross.

– By the end of the project Civil Protection Authorities, communities and the Red Cross National Societies benefit from improved coordination, quality and interoperability of response capacities and more efficient and standardized assistance in case of an emergency.

The EUSBSR is the first Macro-regional Strategy in Europe. The Strategy is an agreement between eight member states of the European Union and the European Commission to strengthen cooperation between the countries bordering the Baltic Sea in order to meet the common challenges and to benefit from common opportunities facing the region.

Three key challenges

The Strategy is divided into three objectives, which represent three key challenges: saving the sea, connecting the region and increasing prosperity. Each objective relates to a wide range of policies and has an impact on the other objectives. There are 13 policy areas within the strategy, the BALTPREP project being under the project area Secure.

There are no new funding or institutions to support the implementation of this Strategy, as it is based on effective and more coordinated use of existing funding sources, and the promotion of synergies and complementarities. The EUSBSR is implemented in concrete joint projects and processes.

BALTPREP gathers Red Cross National Societies from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Denmark to strengthen collaboration and regional preparedness. Russian and Swedish Red Cross Societies also participate in the project activities. The project is funded by the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

This article was originally published on March 17, 2020.