EU funding for the protection of public spaces

Protecting public spaces

With terrorists increasingly targeting public and crowded spaces, as shown by the recent attacks in Barcelona, London, Manchester and Stockholm, the Commission is today presenting an Action Plan to step up the support to Member States efforts to protect and reduce the vulnerability of public spaces. Measures include:

The Commission is today providing €18.5 million from the Internal Security Fund to support transnational projects improving the protection of public spaces. Call for proposals is open until 1st of February 2018. In 2018, a further €100 million from the Urban Innovative Actions will support cities investing in security solutions (calls for proposals to be launched in October 2018)

• Guidance material: Over the next year, the Commission will issue new guidance material to help Member States address a wide range of issues related to the protection of public spaces and raising public awareness. The guidance will include technical "security by design" solutions to make public spaces more secure while preserving their open and public nature.
• Exchange of best practices: The Commission will establish a Practitioners' Forum and set up a High-Risk Security Network in November to provide a platform for common training and joint exercises to improve preparedness against attacks.
• Improving cooperation between local actors and the private sector: The Commission will set up an Operators' Forum to encourage public-private security partnerships and engage with private operators such as shopping malls, concert organisers, sports arenas and car rental companies. The involvement of local and regional authorities will be reinforced with a dedicated high-level meeting on best practice for the protection of public spaces.
• While the likelihood of such attacks is low, the Commission is today also proposing an Action Plan to step up EU level preparedness, resilience and coordination against attacks involving chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) substances. Measures proposed today include the creation of an EU CBRN security network and a CBRN knowledge hub to be set up in the European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) in Europol.

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