Emergencies

Every country must deal with emergencies, be it to protect its citizens or to decide whether they are in need of help when abroad. Every Government is also responsible for providing assistance to their own nationals in an emergency that occurs abroad. If an emergency or crisis is to be dealt with by a given country without outside help, then local procedures must prevail. However, in many cases, the assistance is requested by a third party and often made available under bilateral or regional intergovernmental agreements.

The EU deals, namely, on the following:

• To provide quick and efficient assistance, where and whenever necessary;
• To strengthen the solidarity between Member-states, reinforcing the coordination of available means;
• To improve consular support to EU citizens abroad.

All EU and EU candidate country nationals may benefit from the protection of a consular service of any Member-State. There will always be a Member-state embassy or consulate to assist you in case of an individual emergency or one of great proportions, even if you are not a national of that particular Member-state. You will be given exactly the same assistance  as if you were.
 
So, if you have been a victim of a catastrophe or a terrorist attack somewhere abroad and your country does not have a local embassy or consulate, you may ask any other EU Member-State embassy or consulate to contact your family, to advise you on how to receive appropriate medical care, or how to be evacuated. Also, if you have lost or misplaced your travelling documents and your country does not have a local embassy or consulate, you can apply to an EU provisional travelling document at the embassy or consulate of any other Member-state. This will enable you to return home. Member-states consular services are well coordinated between themselves and keep permanently informed whenever an emergency/crisis situation occurs. In case of a EU citizen in a  crisis or catastrophe that occurs outside the EU, the efforts of national consular assistance teams may also rely upon the logistic support of the European Commission delegations that exist in almost every country in the world. EU citizens in third countries may also benefit from EU info points during important international events, e.g., the Olympic Games or the World Football Championship.