The European Commission adopted a Recommendation and a Communication to establish common goals to improve the capacity of the EU, its Member States and Participating States to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. It also aims to anticipate and withstand the effects of future major disasters and emergencies, affecting critical infrastructure systems.

The five European Disaster Resilience Goals are:

1. Anticipate – To improve risk assessment, anticipation, and disaster risk management planning. The complexity and interdependency of risks the EU faces makes it important to identify vulnerabilities in critical sectors, and anticipate hazards and threats.
2. Prepare – To increase risk awareness and preparedness of the population. Increasing risk awareness and preparedness of the population helps to reduce the impact of disasters.
3. Alert – To enhance early warning. Enhancing early warning systems ensures that warning messages across the national, regional and local levels reach the right people on time.
4. Respond – To enhance the EU Civil Protection Mechanism response capacity. By further enhancing the EU Civil Protection Mechanism response capacity, the EU can provide more help to fill critical gaps and avoid further deterioration of the situation when the capacity of a country is overwhelmed.
5. Secure – To ensure a robust civil protection system. Civil protection systems need to remain operational 24/7, during and after disasters, when they are most needed. Updating business continuity plans and procedures and ensuring coordination and information sharing across sectors, including with critical infrastructure providers, will help civil protection systems to function at all times.