The European Civil Protection
Pool (ECPP) was established in 2013 to provide emergency response personnel and
equipment to combat natural and man-made disasters in Europe. The Pool is the
central component of the E.U. Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). However, the
ECPP depends on voluntary contributions from the state governments and
even extends beyond the E.U. to include ten European sovereign states. The
reliance on voluntary contributions, as well as the distended coverage beyond
the E.U. have a weakening impact on the ability of the European Commission, the
E.U.’s executive branch, to respond to raging forest fires, as were out of control
in several southern states during the summer of 2026. Heat-wave after heat-wave
plus decades of those states allowing deadwood to accumulate in the forests (the
same error had also exacerbated the massive 1988 fire in Yellowstone and Grand
Teton parks in Wyoming) provided a “perfect storm” for raging fires by July.
Even the Commission’s emphasis on prevention had not been enough, given the
reliance on the states, literally to have enough brush and dead trees culled
prior to the hot summer. I contend that the Commission having to rely on the states
(and even ten other countries!) to contribute personnel and equipment in the ECPP
program, which is in line with the Commission’s typical coordinative approach,
is out of step with the E.U.’s actual federal system of dual sovereignty
because a mere coordinating role fits what Althusius, in his 1603 text, Political
Digest, calls non-plena foedus (non-full federalism: all
governmental sovereignty is at the state level).
The full essay is at "The European Civil Protection Pool."