Presenting his working document to Members of the COTER Commission, ECR coordinator Pavel Branda underlined the urgent need to tackle the potentially life-threatening obstacles when it comes to the cooperation of emergency services in the EU's border regions.

The CoR rapporteur for the opinion on "Solving obstacles to the cooperation of emergency services in the EU’s border regions" highlighted that cross-border areas often lack the same public services as interior regions, which in the case of emergency services is "particularly important to be resolved as such obstacles can unnecessarily cost lives", he warned. ".

On many EU borders, ambulances cannot cross the border, citizens cannot go to the nearest hospital across the border and firefighters are not able to communicate as they use different radio frequencies despite this endangering people's lives. Mr Branda said that such issues appear to be widespread in the EU border regions, and urged for more to be done at local, national, and EU levels."

The draft opinion is scheduled to be adopted in the September COTER commission meeting before being put to vote in the CoR November plenary session.