BRUSSELS, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Russia's wildfires demonstrate the need for establishing a European disaster reaction force, France's junior minister for EU affairs says.
Pierre Lellouche said in an interview Tuesday that it would be good to have a "real means of mutual aid" in the event of an emergency, the EU Observer reported.
Lellouche said he first called for creating a disaster reaction force after the earthquake in Haiti.
"I emphasized to our European partners the need to pool our means to create a European emergency force. It still does not exist," he said.
Lellouche said the current EU tool for dealing with a crisis, the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection, has not been activated for the Russian wildfires.
Individual EU states, such as Bulgaria, France and Italy, have already sent planes, smoke masks and experts to Russia.
