Emergency and crisis management within the European Union : the emergence of a European protection space

Abstract

The succession of catastrophic events that have occured in Europe and in the world during the last fifteen years has fostered a reflection at the European level. The Union has to address a growing request for an action in order to cope with crisis of important scale. This evolution implies a deep questioning on its ability to handle this type of phenomenon. The legal and institutional architecture of the EU was essentially designed to set up and organize an internal market. Thus, the impressive diversification of the mechanisms aiming to ensure the safety on the European territory is facing important structural limitations. Nevertheless, using the notions of "emergency" and "crisis management" the European institutions are structuring the basis of a competence regarding the protection of citizens against human vulnerability. In terms of subsidiarity, this new field of public action must be distributed between, on the one hand, sensitive national prerogatives and, on the other hand, supranational institutions that are trying to gain a new role in this area. This share of powers must be operated on a renewed and rigorous conceptual framework. The Union has to establish a genuine European protection space grounded on a reconfiguration of its internal solidarity and aiming to manage crisis of European scale.