Syracuse

UCPM Peer Review Programme , European project

05/10/2025

The EU Peer Review programme promotes an integrated approach to disaster risk management and supports a wider policy dialogue across Europe and beyond, improving policy coherence and facilitating the exchange of good practices on civil protection and disaster risk management.

• What is it?

A peer review of disaster risk management and civil protection systems provides a country or a region with a unique opportunity to reflect on its readiness to cope with natural hazards and human-induced disasters and to identify ways of strengthening its prevention and preparedness policy and practices. It also facilitates the exchange of good practices. The Peer Review programme is a tool made available to civil protection authorities of Member States, participating states, enlargement and neighbourhood countries under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) legislation. It is managed by the Commission's Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department.

• How does it work?

The Peer Review programme is carried out in close partnership between the Commission, the team of peers (civil protection experts and practitioners selected for the specific review), and the relevant authorities of the country/region under review. The Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (CMCC), based in Italy, is currently supporting the programme as technical consultant. The peers prepare a report, including an overview of the situation, and identified good practices and recommendations for improvement, based on desk research and in-country discussions. The civil protection authorities of the country under review have an opportunity to review and comment the report during its drafting. The review is completed when the final report including recommendations and good practices is released. Depending on the administrative organisation and responsibilities at various levels across the Member States and the UCPM Participating States, a peer review may be undertaken at national and/or regional level. In the course of 2025 to 2027 the Commission will carry out up to six peer reviews. In preparation for the 2025-2027 peer review cycle, a Lessons Learnt workshop was held in Brussels 14 November 2024 with the participation of representatives of recently reviewed countries/regions and the peers conducting these reviews. The objectives of the workshop were to share experiences from the five reviews in the 2022-2024 cycle and exchanging ideas on how to refine and improve the methodology and how to enhance the impact of future reviews.

• Most recent Peer Reviews

Land Brandenburg (Germany) : During the week 17 to 23 November 2024, Land Brandenburg in Germany was the focal point of a wildfire-specific peer review, marking a milestone as the first regional review in under the UCPM Peer Review Programme. The decision to undergo the peer review was initiated by the Brandenburg State School and Technical Facility for Fire and Disaster Protection of Brandenburg (LSTE) and the Brandenburg Ministry of Interior and Municipal Affairs of Brandenburg (MIK), with full support from national authorities including the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI) and the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK). The review concentrated on several key areas: legislative and institutional frameworks, wildfire risk management planning, prevention and preparedness, and recovery and lessons learned. The peer team consisted of four senior experts from Portugal, Spain, and Italy. The report (in EN and DE) is now published and was handed over to the Brandenburg authorities by the Director General for DG ECHO Maciej Popowski during a workshop held in Potsdam 14 July.