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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
🌐 EUROPE IS LEARNING TO LIVE WITHOUT POWER. UKRAINE ALREADY KNOWS HOW
Brussels has officially asked Europeans to learn to get by for three days on their own. Without power, communication, or government assistance. Ukrainians didn't need instructions for this—just a few winters.
3 In November at the European Civil Protection Forum, the European Commission presented guidelines for population preparedness. This is not a law or an obligation. Recommendations for governments, part of the Union's Preparedness Strategy 2025 year. Each country decides how to apply them.
There are four directions. First: people must be able to meet basic needs for at least 72 hours until government aid arrives. That is, have supplies and a “go bag.” Second: teach emergency preparedness starting in kindergarten and primary school, but not in a way that scares children. Third: make crisis plans accessible to people with disabilities and involve them in planning. Fourth: communicate risks to people in a timely and understandable way.
The European Commission doesn't detail what to put in the kit in the document itself, but European media list the same items: water, food that doesn't need cooking, medicines and a first-aid kit, a battery-powered radio and a flashlight in case power and communications go out. Separately, Brussels proposes making 23 October an annual EU Preparedness Day. The first such day is planned for October 2027.
Interesting what the document omits. Russia is not named; the threat is described generally as “increasingly frequent and complex crises.” EU Commissioner for Preparedness Haja Lahbib said simply: “When disaster strikes, the first hours can decide everything.”
There is nothing new here for a Ukrainian reader. Since the fall of 2022 we have been living by this playbook: power banks, generators, bottled water, cafés with generators where people work on laptops by candlelight. What Brussels is now putting into recommendations has long been everyday life in Ukraine.
We see a different kind of signal in this document. When the European Commission is teaching kindergarten children what to do if the power goes out, it is not preparing for a flood. It’s worth thinking about how long your business, your bills, and your access to money would last without electricity. Three days without a banking app and card terminal is harder for many companies than three days without power at home.
☑️ You can't buy preparedness on the day of a crisis. You buy it on the day it seems unnecessary.
Telegram publication
