Tal
Anförande vid Försvarshögskolans konferens "Crisis Management in Europe" What role for the EU and the Swedish Presidency 2009? 28 januari 2009
Sten Tolgfors, Försvarsminister
"Managing crises and catastrophes - a coordinated approach"
We live in a constantly changing world. The threats and risks that society faces today are not necessarily the same as they were yesterday or will be tomorrow.
Present threats and risks are complex in nature and pose challenges to broad sectors of society. Some are obvious and predictable, some are not. There are no national boundaries for many of the threats and risks that we have to be prepared for. Climate change, organised crime, pandemics, epizootics, natural disasters and terrorism are just some examples.
All societies are affected by the ongoing climate change. We see how water levels are increasing and how extreme weather situations occur more frequently, causing storms and flooding. Deteriorating living conditions in some areas of the world may cause large-scale migration.
Climate change can also cause more traditional conflicts. We already face this when we participate in international civil and military operations. Limited natural resources may in turn lead to conflicts.
Terrorism and IT attacks can both directly and indirectly damage vital infrastructure in our society. Many incidents are difficult to predict and can appear suddenly. They expose the vulnerability of our advanced societies. An incident often affects one sector of society, and then continues to have severe consequences for other sectors. The incident may seem harmless and small at first but can develop into a crisis for the whole of society and consequently also for the political system.
A major power cut has consequences for both the telephone and IT systems. More or less all functions in society are dependent on IT infrastructure, including banking, the financial sectors, social welfare systems - as well as central heating and the distribution of food to our stores. A disruption can primarily influence one sector, but go on to affect several other sectors. The increasing complexity of our society therefore increases the risk of crises occurring.
The consequences of an accident or a natural event depend on how we deal with them. Whether a major incident turns into a national crisis is often decided by the way it is handled by the authorities.
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Globalisation brings great opportunities for economic growth and prosperity, increased cooperation and rapid solutions to common problems. It also leads to greater interdependence and diminishing national control, and challenges traditional decision-making methods.
With modern ways of travelling, an outbreak of a contagious disease far away can reach us in just a few hours. At the same time greater dependence on international services and trade increases our vulnerability to disruptions in international transport and communication systems.
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With a developed economy and decades of technological development and education we have a relatively good capacity to face the risks in our society. However, this does not mean that we can prevent all incidents and crises from happening. Different types of crisis will continue to occur. The question is not whether they are going to happen, but when, where and how.
The challenge for emergency and crisis management is being prepared for and ready to handle the unexpected and unforeseen.
What is needed is awareness and a high degree of flexibility in the crisis management system and efficient coordination. Continuously learning from past experience is also of vital importance.
According to one popular myth the phrase "If anything can go wrong, it will" was named after an engineer working at the Edwards Air Force Base in 1949. We all know the phrase as Murphy´s law.
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Sweden's security is strongly linked to the surrounding world. The safety of our neighbouring countries and our fellow EU Member States is very important to us. But we are also affected by conflicts and catastrophes far away.
Cross-border threats require international cooperation. Swedish participation in crisis management in the surrounding world contributes to our own security. It gives us valuable experience and strengthens our national competence.
Cooperation in the EU and the Nordic countries needs to be continuously strengthened.
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The difference between a natural event and a natural disaster is partly decided by us humans. As early as the 1980s, first Oxfam and then the Swedish Red Cross published books on this very theme.
The basic problem is not that volcanoes erupt - volcanoes tend to do so - but rather that humans choose or are forced to live dangerously close to them. The problem is not flooding or droughts per se - it is the fact that humans cannot leave the areas where they reoccur. Poverty is therefore a common explanation for the severity of the consequences of a natural event. Developing countries regularly face more dire effects from natural events than developed countries.
Climate change makes it necessary to revive these books. They can be used not only to avoid catastrophes in developing countries, but due to climate change, also in our part of the world.
We tend to fear flooding and raised sea levels, but still we choose to live on the coast&
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Last spring my Government presented a bill on how to improve the capacity to prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies/crises at national and international level. One of the major initiatives in the bill was the establishment of a new authority, the Civil Contingencies Agency, known by its abbreviation as the MSB.
The MSB was established four weeks ago, on 1 January 2009. One major aim of the new Agency is to provide concerted support for the various actors dealing with emergency preparedness and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of this work in Sweden.
The new Agency is a merger of the Swedish Emergency Management Agency, the Swedish Rescue Services Agency and the National Board of Psychological Defence. Their tasks will now be handled by the MSB.
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The MSB is responsible for a wide range of issues related to civil protection, emergency/crisis management and civil defence. The MSB is responsible for both prevention and preparedness and action during and after the occurrence of emergencies and disasters. In other words, the MSB´s mandate spans the entire spectrum of threats and risks, from everyday accidents up to major disasters and even wars.
The MSB will advance and support society´s preparedness for emergencies, crises and disasters. The Agency will help reduce the consequences of emergencies, crises and disasters when they occur. It will also have an important role in coordinating across and among various sectors and areas of responsibility.
Experience shows that when crises and their consequences are the responsibility of several agencies within the Swedish structure, the operational cooperation between them needs to be strengthened. The Government has therefore also given the MSB the mandate to support cooperation and coordination between the different agencies.
Sweden has longstanding experience of support to disaster areas within the context of the various United Nations systems, to some extent within Nato and increasingly within the European Union. This will of course continue with the MSB. Its perspective is national and international.
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The Government has set out three guiding principles for our emergency management: responsibility, parity and proximity. Here I will concentrate on the principle of responsibility, but let me first explain the two other principles.
The principle of parity means that the localisation and organisation of activities should, as far as possible, be the same under normal conditions as during crises/emergencies.
The principle of proximity states that crises/emergencies should primarily be handled where they occur and by those who are closest to them.
Emergency preparedness and emergency/crisis management is based on the `responsibility principle´. This means that the party responsible for a certain activity under normal conditions should also have the corresponding responsibility during emergency situations.
This is a very important principle since it gives stability to the system. The one who knows the systems best should be the one to run them during crises/emergencies.
Ongoing external changes and experience of major emergencies and disasters show that broader involvement in society´s emergency preparedness is needed. A weakness in the past has been the lack of cooperation between the actors involved. The Government is therefore making it clear that the responsibility principle also includes the responsibility to cooperate with other affected actors.
In other words, the MSB will not take over the responsibility of other actors in the case of an emergency or disaster, but rather make sure that coordination functions as it must.
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The country´s political leadership must be kept well informed during an emergency in order to be able to carry out its duties in difficult circumstances.
The Government has therefore set up a Crisis Management Coordination Secretariat in the Prime Minister´s Office to monitor the development of threats and risks and to conduct analyses. It will also evaluate when specific decisions by the Government are needed.
Incidents that occur in a limited area or in one sector should continue to be managed by the competent authority. In the event of contingencies with cross-sectoral consequences, operative responsibility at all levels may need to be coordinated.
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There is a need for an integrated approach to disaster management focusing on the whole chain of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. This is what I aim for in our national work. In my opinion this is also what we should aim for in EU cooperation. And this will also be the basis for our priorities during the Swedish Presidency.
We already have a wide range of EU instruments at our disposal. Prevention is the first key element of an integrated approach. We need to strengthen disaster prevention in order to help reduce the number and consequences of disasters.
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During the last few years the European level has been developed, particularly in the areas of preparedness and response to different disasters. One important factor is the Civil Protection Modules with national competences developed by the Member States. These are designed to manage different emergency situations and be able to support each other in such situations. The modules can of course also be used during interventions outside the European Union.
Sweden has contributed to this work by registering a number of modules.
The further development of the modules must continue and we need to encourage Member States to develop and register more modules. The possibility of modules based on capacities from more than one participant in the mechanism should be examined further. The development of further scenarios based on the experience of previous interventions also needs to be pursued.
EU Member States' joint capacity for international intervention needs to be improved. We see the same shortcomings repeated with every intervention. These include aspects from helicopters to Medevac, tactical and strategic transportation to medical care and intelligence activities. Sweden´s participation in the SAC programme gives us access to strategic airlift capability. Sweden will be the second largest participating state, and will therefore be second in line when transport planes are needed for civilian or military crisis management.
The EU Monitoring and Information Centre, the MIC, has an important role to play in promoting EU disaster response. I am very happy to say that the MIC has been strengthened in recent years and the number of responses coordinated by the MIC has increased.
Sweden has participated in many of these responses; we support the work done by the MIC. It also shows the importance of having a single point of entry in the EU for requests for support. I would like to add that I am pleased that Sweden currently has two national experts from the MSB working in the MIC.
The MIC was activated during the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. This was the first time that the MIC has been activated for consular issues in a real situation. Within just a few hours after the request for assistance was made, the Government had a decision in place and could act on the MIC request. We were the only Member State that provided medical evacuation transport, using the Swedish National Air Medevac. The result was very good and I am proud to say that Sweden played a important role in bringing injured European citizens back to Europe.
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The foundation of good cooperation is training and practice, and we can all learn from each other´s experiences. European Disaster Management Training Arrangements are about to be developed, promoting the convergence of national training programmes in support of disaster management and offering a wide range of training opportunities at Community level.
It is my hope that we can find constructive synergies based on our different experiences, in order to limit the effects of different scenarios. Sweden will definitely play an active role in this training arrangement, sharing the long experience we have in this field.
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We have all seen the devastating effects of terrorist activities. Luckily, so far, major incidents involving chemical, biological and radiological substances have been few in number. Nevertheless, the intelligence services continue to point to the possibility that terrorists have the capability to use ever more devastating means, and we therefore need to prepare ourselves for these scenarios.
The fact that the use of CBRN substances in industry, research and production is part of modern society itself imposes a big risk. We need to ensure that these vital structures are protected. The very fact that our population, goods and services are moving over greater areas of the world, at a much faster pace than before, results in a greater vulnerability for our society.
This year the European Commission will be presenting an extensive policy package of recommendations on enhancing the Union's capacity to prevent, detect and respond to intentional attacks with chemical, biological and radiological substances.
Sweden welcomes this initiative. We especially look forward to the recommendation on cooperation between Member States.
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Over the last 10 years Sweden has been affected by a number of serious crises.
I am thinking of the tragedy of the ferry Estonia that went down in 1994 taking more than 850 passengers with it. Many of these were Swedish citizens. Almost every Swedish person was affected directly or indirectly - knew or knew of - someone on the Estonia.
On Boxing Day 2004 we woke up to the information that a severe tsunami had struck the coast of the Indian Ocean. Gradually we realised that more than 300 000 people had perished in south-east Asia. Many of these came from the western World, from Europe. Most were from the countries hit by the tsunami, on coast of the Indian Ocean. Of the countries in the European Union, Sweden was one of those that suffered the greatest losses.
On a different scale, just a few weeks after the tsunami the south of Sweden was struck by a major storm named Gudrun. About 350 000 households lost electricity in the bitter winter.
The effects of these catastrophes have deeply affected the Swedish nation and society. Had Murphy´s law been applied as intended, we would have been better equipped to handle these serious crises.
The Government has made sure to build on the lessons learnt and make the necessary changes in our national system. One important change is the creation of a flexible capacity that can be used for small or large scale situations when Swedish citizens outside our own borders are in need. Another change has been to plan for a rapid reaction when a request comes from another country in need. The establishment of the MSB and the Crisis Management Coordination Secretariat in the Prime Minister´s Office are key to our developed capability.
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To conclude, I would like to underline the importance of a flexible and coordinated approach. And stress the fact that the whole chain of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery will need to be continuously strengthened.
Sweden will continue to work actively in the area of emergency preparedness in the EU and in various other international forums. The Swedish Presidency of the EU will of course be an important opportunity for us to push in this direction. Not only to strengthen Sweden´s capacities, but also to contribute to the safety of EU citizens around the world and to increase the Union´s capacity to help people in distress. And lastly to increase Sweden´s ability to receive international assistance in the event of a severe national emergency.
EU cooperation will continue to be based on the principles of intergovernmental cooperation and voluntary participation. The Government is now in the process of finalising the detailed priorities for our Presidency.
President Eisenhower said "Plans are nothing; planning is everything."
I look forward to the upcoming Swedish Presidency of the EU and I look forward to presenting the Presidency priorities in these areas later on this spring.
Thank you.
