EU crisis coordination exercise in Finland

Government Communications Unit

Press Release 474/2006
22 December 2006

A crisis coordination exercise was organised in the European Union on Monday, 30 October 2006. The purpose of the exercise was to test, especially in Brussels, the new common EU emergency and crisis coordination arrangement that became operational at the beginning of Finland’s EU Presidency.

The Presidency country has a particular responsibility over managing the EU-level crisis coordination arrangement. That is why this exercise also tested how information was disseminated between the Presidency country and the actors in Brussels. The crisis coordination contact in Finland was the Government situation centre. On 16 October 2006, the Prime Minister’s Office issued guidelines concerning the implementation of the exercise in Finland. As outlined in the guidelines, information on the exercise was provided beforehand. The exercise also tested how messages passed on, with respect to decision-making, to the Prime Minister and, concerning the preparedness organisation, to the Heads of Preparedness in various ministries. In these parts, the exercise was carried out as planned.

However, the EU Situation Centre of the Council of the European Union sent the test messages using the normal distribution list of its SMS text message service and all the officials on the list were not aware of the exercise. This caused some confusion in the beginning phases of the exercise.

The EU emergency and crisis coordination arrangement (CCA) became operational within the European Union as of 1 July 2006.  The arrangement aims to ensure rapid EU-level political decision-making in the event of serious emergency situations. Political reactions can support the operative activities of various actors and demonstrate the Union’s political operating capacity in possible confusing situations. The Presidency country has a leading role in the CCA arrangements. As the Presidency, Finland applied the methods of the CCA arrangement for the first time in connection with the crisis in Lebanon in July when EU citizens were evacuated from the crisis-struck region.

Further information: State Secretary Risto Volanen, Prime Minister's Office, tel. +358 9 1602 2006 and Timo Härkönen, Situation Awareness Coordinator, Prime Minister's Office, tel. +358 9 1602 3500