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Roman Sykora, Secretary General in CTIF, and Milan Dubravac, President of CTIF, at the European Summit of Firefighters in Brussels in November.
11 Nov 2024

CTIF will be the voice of a new firefighters association with the power to influence EU politics - European Firefighters Summit in Brussels November 2024

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Milan Dubravac, Karl-Heinz Banse and the Hessian minister at the European Summit of Firefighters in  Nrussels in November 2024. Representatives of fire brigade associations from Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Cyprus took part in the two-day meeting in Brussels on November 5 and 6. 

This meeting was follow up from meeting in Paris early this year, and the main objective is to create a new EU Firefighters Association which will have power to influence EU politics in the future.

DFV-President Karl-Heinz Banse, who chaired the meeting was pleased and made it clear that the World Firefighters Association CTIF, through its President Milan Dubravac and General Secretary Roman Sykora, participated in the consultation and future work of the Association. Of course, the new association will become a member of the CTIF and CTIF will be the voice of new association internationally. 

Also there was decision that the new association will use all results from CTIF Commissions and working groups however association will even support this work.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed the summit online and emphasized the reliability of firefighters in Europe: 

"In moments of great need, Europe can count on you!" 

She explained that the firefighters have a key role in the European hazard prevention strategy. For the purpose of this, governments and also the people of the European Union should better support the fire brigades. 

"I'm very grateful for what you do every day. We are all strengthened by your work," thanked von der Leyen in conclusion.

During the event, the international guests also visited the European Parliament and used the opportunity to hold political conversations with some MEPs.

 

Photo Credits: Cover Photo shows Roman Sykora, General Secretary in CTIF, and Milan Dubravac, CTIF Preident. 

Lower photo shows Milan Dubravac with Karl-Heinz Banse, who is the President of the German Fire Brigade Association (DFV) and State Minister Manfred Pentz, Minister for Federal and European Affairs, International Affairs in the German state of Hesse.