EU Preparedness Union Strategy: A welcome recognition of the essentiality of SGIs as 'vital societal functions’

On Wednesday 26 March 2025, the European Commission adopted its Preparedness Union Strategy, aimed at enhancing Europe's capability to prevent and respond to emerging threats. Building on the key takeaways from the Niinistö report, it develops the principles of EU preparedness through an integrated all-hazards, whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. The Strategy includes key actions and a detailed Action Plan to set and advance the Preparedness Union's objectives.

Following the presentation, Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe General Secretary, commented:

"SGI Europe welcomes the EU Preparedness Union Strategy put forward by the European Commission. In the face of continuous and emerging threats, it is of prime importance to better integrate resilience and preparedness in EU decision-making. In particular, services of general interest – such as healthcare, energy supply, water and waste management, telecommunications, transport, education or public administration – are at the heart of the preparedness and now finally recognised as ‘vital societal functions’."

“We look forward to the upcoming European Climate Adaptation Plan, which should better embed ‘preparedness by design’ as its core principles. SGIs are vital actors in that context and can contribute to enhance the EU Climate Adaptation framework, including amongst others the European Water Resilience Strategy, the Circular Economy Act and the Bioeconomy Strategy, to become sustainable and resourceful.”

“Social Partners are rightly mentioned as key stakeholders in deploying the initiatives listed in the annex, and we look forward to contributing to the Social Partners Preparedness Summit. Social partners were instrumental in mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis, and the Commission can count on our commitment to build the structural resilience and preparedness of the EU.”