Eight EU countries on Thursday launched a coalition of the willing on crisis preparedness calling for "urgent, European coordinated action" to make the bloc more resilient to natural and man-made disasters.
Crisis preparedness is a national competence across the EU but the new coalition of the willing - made up of Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, and Sweden - said in a statement that "efforts from member states and the EU's institutions" are needed "as crises have become increasingly cross-border, cross-sectoral and grow in complexity".
