The Directors General for Civil Protection of the CBSS Member States met in Gniew, Poland, on 16-18 June 2026 for the 24th meeting of the CBSS Civil Protection Network, chaired by the National Headquarters of the State Fire Service of Poland. The meeting was also highly relevant for EUSBSR PA Secure, as the PA Secure Steering Group is built largely around the same national civil protection authorities and works on closely connected themes. The two formats complement each other: the CBSS Civil Protection Network provides the long-standing regional cooperation structure and access to senior decision-makers, while PA Secure brings the EUSBSR framework, flagship projects and practical implementation tools into the same civil protection agenda.
Since the two formats bring together largely the same national civil protection authorities, PA Secure has synchronised its presidency calendar with the CBSS CPN Presidency. This helps improve continuity, avoid duplication and ensure that strategic discussions at Directors General level are linked to the implementation of the PA Secure Action Plan.
The Gniew meeting was, in many ways, a culmination of Baltic Sea Region civil protection cooperation during the Polish Presidency both in CPN and in PA Secure. Several themes discussed in Gniew were directly connected to the updated PA Secure Action Plan.
Discussions on Host Nation Support, macro-regional evacuation preparedness, civil-military cooperation, joint planning, training and exercises contributed to the Action Plan priority on strengthening disaster resilience and joint capacity building. Exchanges on societal partnerships, youth engagement, volunteers, psychological resilience and lessons learned from Ukraine reflected the Action Plan’s focus on citizens as active participants in preparedness and resilience. The meeting also touched upon data-informed preparedness, early warning, foresight and Finland’s proposal for stronger regional RDI cooperation, linking to the new Action Plan priority on harnessing research, development and innovation for societal security.
The next CBSS CPN Presidency will be held by Iceland, which is currently an observer in PA Secure. To ensure continuity in the Policy Area, Poland will continue the PA Secure Presidency for an additional half-year, until Sweden takes over the PA Secure Presidency.