The European Parliament today adopted the resolution on provocative actions and drone incursions in Romania, the Baltic states and Finland, following a debate initiated by Vice-President of the European Parliament Victor Negrescu, with the support of the S&D Group.

Initiated at the proposal of MEP Victor Negrescu, with the support of the S&D Group, the resolution comes in response to recent developments in Romania and to incidents that have directly affected citizens and communities in European Union member states.

“I initiated this debate and this resolution because, beyond the news and the statistics, we are talking about people. About families who are woken up in the middle of the night by explosions. About communities living under the permanent threat of drones. About the child injured in his or her own home in Galați and about the incidents that have affected citizens’ safety in the Black Sea region. The safety of European citizens is not negotiable,” said Social Democrat MEP Victor Negrescu.

Under the adopted text, the European Parliament calls for concrete measures to strengthen security on the European Union’s eastern flank, including reinforcing monitoring and early-warning systems, developing air defence and anti-drone capabilities, organising joint preparedness exercises and improving cooperation between civilian and military authorities

An important element of the resolution is the request addressed to European Union institutions and member states to ensure the necessary funding for the construction and modernisation of civil protection shelters, as well as for measures to increase the resilience of communities in areas most exposed to threats.

The document also calls for dedicated European financial support to protect affected communities and critical infrastructure on the eastern flank.

The resolution also calls for the accelerated operationalisation of the European Hub for Maritime Security in the Black Sea, an initiative consistently supported by MEP Victor Negrescu, as well as the strengthening of maritime and air surveillance in the region.

“For the first time, the European Parliament is explicitly calling for the financing from European funds of civil protection measures and shelters for the population in states on the eastern flank. This is a clear signal that citizens’ security can no longer be treated solely as a national issue, but as a shared European responsibility. Europe must stand with the communities on the front line”, the Vice-President of the European Parliament stressed.

MEP Victor Negrescu thanked all the political groups that supported this initiative and contributed to the adoption of the resolution: “In the face of threats to our citizens, Europe must remain united and act. The message of the European Parliament is clear: every European citizen has the right to feel safe in their own home.”

The adopted resolution reaffirms the European Union’s solidarity with Romania and the other affected states and calls for the acceleration of European defence, civil protection and resilience measures in the most exposed border regions. The resolution was adopted with 412 votes in favour, out of 528 votes cast.