On 29 October 2025, at the EUSBSR Annual Forum in Sopot, PA Secure organised the session “Connected Capitals: Local Action, Regional Resilience”. Building on earlier cooperation among Nordic capitals, the session brought together city practitioners from Helsinki, Tallinn and Warsaw, backed up by fresh comparative research on urban preparedness from the University of Latvia. Moderated by Andriy Martynenko (CBSS Secretariat, PA Secure coordinator), the session illustrated several common challenges for the cities in maintaining critical societal functions during potential crises, highlighted capitals’ efforts in engaging society in resilience building and outlined a few concrete opportunities to cooperate at Baltic Sea Region level. Suggestions for such joint initiatives included common BSR guidelines on 72-hour readiness for citizens, systematic knowledge sharing among capitals, and joint exercises. An opening interactive poll showed that participants feel their cities are secure today (avg. 7.75/10), yet expect disinformation, energy disruptions (27) and disrupted critical supplies to rank among the top city-level threats in the next 3-5 years. At the household level, the statement “My family is prepared to cope for 72 hours without external help” scored a modest 3/5, signalling room to improve self-reliance. Following this survey, Dr Ieva Birka, Lead Researcher at University of Latvia, shared highlights from the project “Urban Preparedness for Emerging Risks in the Baltic Sea Region” – a large survey spanning Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Helsinki, and three German cities. The results contrasted perceived and actual preparedness, mapped barriers and identified needs from authorities such as clearer guidance and accessible training (click here to see the results of the survey) Minna Liimatainen, Head of Security & Preparedness for the city of Helsinki, introduced the municipal laws, local shelters, and trainings as part of Helsinki’s preparedness, and pointed to city-level preparedness as integral part of the Finnish national comprehensive security model. She also stressed the importance of municipalities offering its citizens the tools to adapt and be active actors in crisis situations.The Head of the Municipal Police in Tallinn, Elari Kasemets, shared how preparedness and resilience building is a shared responsibility. From the point of view of the capital of a small country, he highlighted the importance of engaging citizens through “champion” volunteers. Similarly to the city of Helsinki, Tallinn has been working on evacuation points and public shelters for its residents. Earlier this year, the city of Tallinn launched a Civil Protection Network for Baltic Capitals, opening a space for capitals to plan together and look for joint activities. Marta Dermańska, Deputy Director of the Social Communication Centre in Warsaw, spoke on how the city of Warsaw responded to the refugee crisis of 2022 when a million Ukrainian refugees passed through the city, of which over a third stayed in Warsaw. She highlighted extraordinary citizen engagement and volunteering (including residents hosting newcomers), and the city’s current work to formalise cooperation with NGO and spontaneous volunteers in crisis management so that the next response is faster and more coordinated. At the end of the session, PA Secure coordinators also emphasised that both the CBSS Secretariat and PA Secure stand ready to offer the capitals a forum to continue this cooperation in the future – supporting follow-up meetings, joint work strands and practical exchanges.
This session was organised by EUSBSR Policy Area Secure (coordinated jointly by the CBSS Secretariat and the Swedish MSB) as part of the EUSBSR Annual Forum 2025 in Sopot. More on the Forum: https://eusbsr.eu/annual-forum/
