STA, 6 January 2020 - The coalition Social Democrats (SD) want Slovenia and the EU to help Australia fight bushfires, by offering civil protection resources and other forms of assistance to save lives.
The party formally asked the government on Monday to offer assistance to Australia given that Slovenia has one of the best civil protection systems in the world and a broad network of voluntary firefighters.
Slovenia should also offer secondary assistance by supporting NGOs that want to help Australia with activities such as reforestation and protection of animal and plant species.
Meanwhile, the party's MEPs Tanja Fajon and Milan Brglez urged the European Commission to draw up a plan of joint EU activities and form a European unit pooling together free civil protection and firefighting resources from across the bloc.
However, the office of Slovenia's European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič told the STA it had not received the initiative yet.
It noted though that the EU and its members had mechanisms to help, but that the Australian authorities must first request aid.
Australia last asked for EU assistance last November, when the EU's Copernicus Earth observation programme provided it with satellite images of New South Wales.
According to unofficial information, Australia has requested satellite images from Copernicus five times so far but has never requested aid from the EU's mechanisms for civil protection.
Sources in Brussels say that highly developed countries outside the EU usually do not request this type of aid, which is why some find the SD initiative somewhat unusual.
A total of 24 people have died in the Australian bushfires since the end of September, and more than 1,800 homes have been damaged or completely destroyed. It is estimated that more than a third of animals from the affected areas have died, and the koala bear population is in jeopardy as most of its habitat has been destroyed.
