European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib in Bucharest
While in Bucharest, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, praised Romania for its involvement in tackling wildfires that broke out this summer in several European countries.
Sorin Iordan, 11.09.2026, 14:00
European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, praised Romania for its emergency response system. During her visit to Bucharest on Thursday, she thanked Romania for its involvement in tackling wildfires that broke out this summer in several European Union member states. The Brussels official stressed that, over the past ten years, the number of times Romania has intervened to support other countries has been five times higher than the number of requests for assistance made by Bucharest.
Hadja Lahbib said that Romania had built a strong emergency response system and, importantly, had made it available to others. She noted that, over the past ten years, Romania had requested assistance through the Civil Protection Mechanism ten times, while during the same period it had responded to other countries’ calls for help 49 times. She stressed that Romania had stepped forward on 49 occasions to assist countries in need, adding that this was precisely what the Civil Protection Mechanism had been designed for: when a country is overwhelmed and asks for help, Europe moves quickly. Lahbib pointed out that one in four firefighters redeployed across Europe this year to respond to wildfires came from Romania, and that Romania had evacuated more than 180 patients from Ukraine, North Macedonia and Switzerland to hospitals across Europe, including 57 children from the Gaza Strip.
The strong cooperation under the European Civil Protection Mechanism was also highlighted by the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Secretary of State Raed Arafat. He referred to this year’s missions carried out by Romanian firefighters in France, Greece and Serbia, and said that Romania ranks among the European countries that respond immediately to requests for assistance.
Raed Arafat: “Romania is regarded as one of the countries at the forefront when it comes to providing support whenever assistance is requested. And this has been the approach of the governments, the prime ministers and everyone we have worked with: to always have a YES answer, to get involved and to stand in solidarity with others.”
In Bucharest, Hadja Lahbib was also received by the country’s President, Nicuşor Dan. Romania supports strengthening the European Union’s preparedness capacity so that it can respond effectively to crisis situations, the Romanian President said. He added that Romania’s priorities include strengthening resilience in the Black Sea region, ensuring the effective implementation of crisis-management instruments, enhancing humanitarian response capacity, and maintaining close cooperation with the European Commission in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Nicuşor Dan said that the European official had presented him with a letter of appreciation for the support provided in the medical evacuations carried out under the European Civil Protection Mechanism. (EE)
