The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is in the process of drafting an own-initiative opinion on “Solving obstacles to the cooperation of emergency services in the EU's border regions".

The rapporteur for this opinion, Pavel Branda (CZ, ECR), Vice Mayor of Radlo, and his expert Hynek Bohm, would be pleased to hear the views of representatives of local and regional authorities and other relevant stakeholders.

There are many obstacles in cross-border cooperation, both legal and administrative, and one of the most reported types of obstacles is those in emergency services. We see on many borders of the EU that ambulances cannot cross the border despite this endangering peoples' lives; citizens cannot go to the nearest hospital as it is across the border in another state, and firefighters are not able to communicate as they use different radio frequencies and so on. 

These obstacles asymmetrically impact local communities along the EU's internal borders. While the solution, in many cases, needs to be found on the national level, this is often not as straightforward. Legislation, or a series of legislations, should likely be in place to allow emergency services to cooperate without being concerned by the border, all in the interest of the citizens.

The CoR has a unique position among EU institutions, giving it the responsibility of making sure that the needs of the border regions are taken into account and ensuring that businesses, citizens and local communities enjoy the same level of services and standards as the rest of the Union, which in the case of emergency services and access to healthcare is not the case, which is particularly important to be resolved as such obstacles can unnecessarily cost lives.

The Rapporteur would like to invite all interested stakeholders to join the stakeholder consultation in person or online and to reflect on the following questions:

Current situation 

• Which emergency services function the least in your cross-border area? 
• Which emergency services function the best in your cross-border area? 
• What hampers the cross-border emergency services in your area?  
• Does the language barrier pose a significant problem in case of emergencies? 
• Do the bilateral/transnational agreements function well? 
• Which funding is most appropriate for these types of services? 
• Which emergency services are the priority for your region? 
• In emergencies, is the response in a cross-border context fast enough? 
• In emergencies, is the legal framework in your region set, or is it a more ad-hoc cooperation? 
• How important is the cross-border cooperation of emergency healthcare services in your region? 

The future perspectives 

• Should new legislation be adopted to resolve some of these issues? If so, at which level? 
• Would more harmonisations be useful between Member States? 
• Should the citizens living in border regions be allowed to go to the nearest hospital in case of emergencies, even if that hospital is across the border? 
• Could the new technologies help address some issues facing cross-border emergency services providers? 
• Could EGTCs play a role in cross-border emergency services? 

The final discussion and approval of the draft opinion is scheduled for the COTER commission meeting on 17-18 September 2024. The opinion is expected to be approved at the CoR plenary session of 20-21 November 2024.

Please register via this link (even for web streaming).

Deadline: 26 June 2024 at noon​

If you wish to submit a written contribution for the rapporteur's consideration, please send it to coter@cor.europa.eu by 15 July at noon.

Please note that no reimbursements will be offered for attending this event.