site.btaFour Bulgarians Join EU Citizens' Crisis Preparedness Online Debate

Four Bulgarians are among a total of 150 citizens from all EU member states meeting online from April 24 to 26 for the second session of the European Citizens' Panel on Preparedness. The discussions will help shape concrete ideas on how people across the EU can be better prepared for future shocks and will ensure that actions under the EU preparedness union strategy are inclusive and respond to citizens' needs.

Participants are exploring in greater depth the priorities which they identified during their discussions in March. These include citizen engagement, education, solidarity and inclusion, integrity of communication (including combating the spread of disinformation and misinformation), and crisis management, as well as other areas related to preparedness across Europe. The plenary session can be followed live on the panel's website.

The four Bulgarian participants are from Sofia, Burgas, Isperih, and Rebarkovo.

Speaking to BTA, Antoaneta Petkova from Rebarkovo said: "I hope that in our group, which includes representatives from Germany, Italy, and Czechia, we will continue discussing the proposals we previously highlighted, namely the introduction of educational training for all ages, both theoretical and practical, on crisis response.” Petkova added that four other ideas on disaster and crisis response will also be discussed.