Emergency kit for crisis provision: Between ignorance and panicism

The initiative came from the European Union as a recommendation for everyone, but so far the individual member states deal with it differently. It is about provision for an emergency and the recent recommendation to all citizens to put together an emergency kit in order to be sufficient for at least three days. While some countries have been dealing intensively and in the public for a long time to sensitize the population to possible threats, so far it has been more reserved in Luxembourg.

No reason to panic – or maybe?

« The aim is not to panic people, » explains Prime Minister Luc Frieden in the Chamber of Deputy on Tuesday. However, the only fact that the premier has to comment on this topic raises the question of the extent to which its strategy that has been pursued in this regard works. Because as soon as it makes the topic into public – like this day about a report on « Wort.lu » – it provides uncertainty. Also among members of the chamber.

At the meeting on Tuesday, the DP MP wants to know how to refer various press reports on Tuesday how the information strategy of the Hochkommissariat for National Security (HCPN) is. Whether one intends to inform the population in writing and whether the municipalities would be integrated into any plans. And in this context, Paulette Lenert (LSAP) expresses the concern that the communication that has so far been neglected in Luxembourg can lead to panic. Many people in this country do not even know that there is a website with appropriate information in Luxembourg (infoCrise.public.lu).

A threat cannot be ruled out

Peace also admits that other countries with information are quite more offensive to the population. At the same time, however, the population does not want to give the impression that a war is imminent. « We do not believe that this is the case, » said the Prime Minister, although one can « rule out » no situation with a view to Russia and the changes in the United States. According to peace, the emergency plans would be adapted again and again with a view to a possible threat situation, be it through war, terrorist attacks or cyber attacks. « In the next few months we want to check what we have and then of course also tell the population how it can behave in different situations. »

In Sweden you are already a few steps further. There, the residents were sensitized to an emergency last autumn. There you have distributed leaflets to all households, with information about how to prepare for a possible war and behave in an emergency. A similar paper is also available in neighboring Finland, and complete information brochures were sent in Norway.

Scandinavia has been living with the threat for a long time

Due to the proximity to Russia – Finland, a 1,340 -kilometer border is shared with Russia – the threat situation in the Scandinavian countries is also a larger one than in Central Europe. At least there were threatening words from Russia for both Finland and Sweden due to the NATO accession of the two countries. In this respect, the EU recommendation has long since met open ears.

The strategy presented by the European Commission contains a list of 30 concrete measures for the EU countries to increase their willingness for potential crises. They range from natural disasters and industrial accidents to attacks by enemy actors.