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European Commissioner Serafin at a visit to the central center for natural environment fires in Slovenia

by AI | 25.Mar 2025 | Europe in brief AI

During the visit of the European Commissioner for Budget, Piotr Serafin, the nationwide center for natural environment fires in Sežana was officially launched. It is equipped with modern protection and rescue equipment, and it plans to train a thousand people in the first year.

European Commissioner for Budget Piotr Serafin during his visit to the Slovenian National Center for Wildfires in Sežana. Photo: Matej Arh/STA

Sežana – Slovenia was visited on Monday by the European Commissioner for Budget, Piotr Serafin, who examined the all-Slovenian center for fires in the natural environment in Sežana near the Slovenian-Italian border. It is a modern facility, among other things intended for the storage of vehicles and other protective equipment, and will also function as an educational center. Most of the funds for this project, which officially began with the visit of Commissioner Serafin, were contributed by the EU.

The total value of the investment in equipment, infrastructure, educational programs, and other activities related to protection and rescue is estimated at 160 million euros. Of this, more than 100 million are funds from various European funds, most of which are from the recovery and resilience plan. Among the most important projects of the center are the establishment of a warehouse for protective equipment, the purchase of special vehicles and equipment, the construction of infrastructure, and the establishment of specialized rescue units for extinguishing fires in the natural environment, flood control, and cave rescue.

The center was completed in December 2024, and the first training under a special, protection and rescue-adapted program will start next week. In the first year alone, a thousand people are expected to be educated. “The goal is for Sežana to become the central coordination center in case of fires in the western part of Slovenia. This is possible today with all the new acquisitions we have,” said Leon Behin, Director-General of the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Protection and Rescue.

In the summer of 2022, Slovenia faced a large fire that engulfed more than 2,000 hectares of the Italian and Slovenian part of the Karst Plateau. It was the largest fire in the history of independent Slovenia.

European Commissioner Serafin emphasized that the EU cannot replace countries in ensuring security, but it can support them with its tools. Security is one of the key European themes, encompassing both defense and civil protection, with Slovenia being an exemplary case, especially after the floods in August 2023. He was impressed with the Slovenian voluntary firefighting system and the results of European investments that strengthen civil protection. He also emphasized that with the center, Slovenia has gained capacities that can potentially help neighbors, which he sees as particularly positive at the EU level. (March 24)