“Escape clause”, i.e., budgetary flexibility for EU Member States for spending on civil protection, network and infrastructure resilience, recruitment of firefighters and civilian staff for prevention and recovery, equivalent to the “defence clause”, Nicolas Faradouris called today for. He tabled the proposal during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, as he had announced in his speech at the Economist conference in Thessaloniki last Friday.

The MEP and member of the Budget, Security & Defence and Environment committees cited the recent devastating fires in Greece and the rest of Europe, and other natural disasters and natural catastrophes, the total cost of which exceeded €20 billion for 2024-2025.

“While Europe mourns the dead from natural disasters, fires and floods, European budgetary priorities remain inverted. The EU is activating ‘escape clauses’ for ‘external security’ and defence, but not for ‘internal security’, resilience, prevention and rehabilitation,” the Greek MEP and academic stressed in his speech in the plenary session.

The “escape clause” for security & defence spending

In July 2025, 15 member states, including Greece, received approval to activate the national “escape clause” of the fiscal rules, allowing additional defence spending of up to 1.5% of GDP per year for four years.

As N. Farantouris points out, “the oddity is obvious: while ‘external security’ justifies relaxing fiscal rules, resilience, prevention and recovery, in other words, ‘internal security’ that directly threatens the lives of citizens, remains subordinate to fiscal discipline.”

“Prevention economy: clean jobs, emissions reduction, resilience”

According to data presented by N. Faradouris, every euro invested in prevention “buys” multiple savings in compensation and reconstruction. Moreover, according to EU studies, prevention investments can create up to 500,000 jobs in the EU by 2050. Investments in prevention and rehabilitation are investments that “pay double”: they protect against risks and reduce their causes.

In a statement from Strasbourg, Nicolas Faradouris said: “Europe’s security is indivisible and includes both external and internal dimensions. The internal needs go far beyond the framework of the EU’s multiannual financial framework. States need extensive public spending and investment to improve preparedness and response capabilities. The EU must give them this capacity. That is why I propose to activate the “escape clause” from the EU’s tight financial rules, to give Member States the budgetary breathing space for public spending and investment, including for strengthening firefighters and human resources in firefighting, for resilient infrastructure, for modern equipment and, of course, for adequate and timely financial support to states like Greece and Cyprus affected by such extreme events.”