As the overarching priority for the NAT Commission, the topic of resilience was passionately debated by NAT members, including our ECR member and rapporteur Mario Guarente, in today's NAT Commission meeting of 30 March. 

As CoR spokesperson on the resilience of critical entities, Mayor Guarente had many insights to share with fellow members during today's debate on the adoption of an opinion on strengthening the resilience of our cities and regions.

"With an ever-increasing number of challenges facing the EU, such as the rise of the digital economy, the growing impacts of climate change, and terrorist threats there is an urgent need to further strengthen the resilience of European territories", stated Mr Guarente. In addition to these ongoing threats, he also referred to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine, the consequences of which the Union, its regions and cities are now also dealing with. 

When we look at the development of resilience strategies, it is imperative that local and regional authorities are involved, in particular, Mr Guarente highlighted "by making available their knowledge and experience". Not only should we involve local and regional authorities, but all citizens should be trained on different risks, he stated. Recognising the huge financial resources this would entail, Mr Guarente concluded that "protection is better than cure".

The ECR coordinator and spokesperson for disaster risk reduction, Mr Adam Banaszak, emphasized the importance of the EU's role in crisis management, stating that "citizens expect preparedness, reaction and response from the EU when disasters strike". He continued by highlighting the CoR's achievements in this area: for example, "ten years ago the EU Solidarity Fund did not cover regional disasters but with the work of the CoR they are now covered".