THE ESSENCE OF THE EU CIVIL PROTECTION MECHANISM AND THE PROSPECTS OF UKRAINE ACQUIRING EU MEMBERSHIP

Abstract

The modern world, despite the achievements of scientific and technological progress, is becoming more and more vulnerable to the impact of natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts, fires, etc.), man-made accidents and catastrophes at the facilities of industry, energy, transport, social conflicts (military, ethnic, religious), from the consequences of which the civilian population suffers the most. In order to effectively counteract their occurrence and eliminate their consequences, it becomes obvious the need to strengthen the interaction of civil defense bodies and forces with law enforcement agencies and armed forces, both within the borders of each state, and to establish cooperation with similar structures of foreign partner countries. One of these structures is the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, of which Ukraine aspires to become a full member. The object of the research is the essence of the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union and the prospects of Ukraine acquiring full membership in it under martial law conditions. The methodological basis of the research consists of modern general and special methods of scientific knowledge, in particular: analysis, synthesis, inductive, deductive, forecasting and generalization. In the course of the study, it was established that the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union is the world’s largest system of providing international coordinated operational assistance in case of emergency situations in the EU countries and beyond. Therefore, Ukraine, despite the introduction of martial law as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, submitted a corresponding application and received a road map for joining the mentioned Mechanism, and has every chance to become a full member of it already in the spring. At the same time, Ukraine is ready to share with partner countries the capabilities of using aviation to extinguish fires, as well as the experience of large-scale demining of various areas (residential buildings, industrial zones, forest belts, agricultural lands, etc.) and demolition of debris with the involvement of the civilian population in the event of large-scale cataclysms and destruction.