In the master's thesis, I will research the response of the European Union and its Civil Protection Mechanism to the icebreak in Slovenia in 2014. In the period from 30th January to 10th February 2014, Slovenia was hit by a very serious natural disaster that paralyzed most of the country. Photographs of trees covered in ice, destroyed electric infrastructure or cars with up to 10 cm thick ice cover, have been embroidered in people´s memory forever while these same pictures were rounded up around the world and thus displayed a critical state in the country. Slovenia, or its forces for protection and rescue have been, in such a huge disaster, despite the large number of trained firefighters, rescuers, the army, the police and many other volunteer services being overburdened. Due to the interrupted supply of electricity, the deficit was mainly noticed in the material, in the shortage of electrical aggregates of all power. Very soon Slovenia realised that outside help was needed, so Slovenia requested assistance from the European Union, which responded with concrete and effective assistance through its Union Civil Protection Mechanism. Also some countries and organisations helped Slovenia on bilateral level. The countries of the European Union thus send considerable material and protection and rescue forces in Slovenia, which significantly helped the people in the mentioned period, while at the same time they prevented greater damage and contributed to the faster establishment of the normal state of affairs and also to the faster resolution of the consequences, which were experienced in Slovenia during the icebreak.
|
