In 2025, the European Commission formally called on nationals of associate States to prepare alleged evacuation backpacks and home food and water stocks. Sounds like a fantasy from a disaster movie? Unfortunately, this is not only a real strategy, but besides 1 of the key pillars of the fresh EU citizens' safety policy – “The Union of Preparedness”.
A paper that passed almost without echo in mainstream media, requires associate States to educate and mobilise citizens on their own preparedness for crises. It's not just about pandemics or natural disasters anymore. The speech is about military threats, cyber attacks, power outages, or paralysis of supply chains.
According to the Commission's recommendations, each EU citizen should be prepared to last at least 72 hours without any external assistance. That means you gotta have a stash at home. food, drinking water, medicines, light sources, cash, papers and basic endurance tools.
In Poland, according to CBOS investigation in February 2025, 61% of citizens have no reserves in case of a crisis, and only 4% declare that it has a pre-prepared evacuation backpack. This is alarming data in the face of a fresh Union strategy, which is increasingly clear It is not only prepared for "possible" but "possibly" geopolitical crises.
What must the emergency pack contain and what does the "72-hour readiness" look like?
It's not about the bag of clothes for the weekend. The evacuation backpack is intended to last under cut-off conditions from the planet and infrastructure. The European Commission has even published a detailed list of what should be included in it - and these are not suggestions but recommendations at the level of public security.
These are the basic elements of the alleged "72h set":
- Minimum 6 litres of drinking water per individual (2 litres per day for 3 days)
- High calorie long-term food (minimum 6,000 kcal per person)
- Medications – taken continuously as well as painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, dressings, bandages
- Flashlights, batteries, power banks, battery radios or cranks
- Paper and electronic papers (e.g. on flash drive)
- Cash – minimum PLN 300–500 in tiny denominations
- Warm clothes, NRC film, basic tools (bowel, multitool, insulating tape)
- Local site paper map and emergency and shelter addresses
Why 72 hours? According to crisis management experts, it is the minimum time the services request to organise real assistance in conditions of mass chaos, demolition or threat. In the first hours after the crash, only the ability to last alone is important.
In Poland, so far there has been no coherent policy of education of citizens in the field of "personal preparation". Now it's changing. The Ministry of Interior and Administration has already announced that it is preparing a nationwide information programme and fresh guidelines for local governments, schools and families.
The first pilot campaigns begin in border voivodships – including Podlasie, Lublin and in the part of Mazowsza. These are the regions identified as ‘newrlagic’ in the case of threats from the east neighbour.
Is this the beginning of the militarization of society?
Although the European Commission is officially talking about "resilence" and "civility", there is no shortage of votes that The full strategy of the Union of Preparedness is to de facto prepare society for a real armed conflict or energy blackout.
In January 2025 the Germans began to review the shelters and underground bunkers of the Cold War. In Austria and Finland, citizens were given authoritative brochures with instructions in case of war. Sweden has been conducting mandatory civilian protection exercises at municipal level since 2024.
Poland is just waking up on this issue. However, experts warn: The times of carelessness are over. The increasing geopolitical tensions, energy instability and expanding cyber attacks make states – but besides average citizens – gotta take safety matters into their own hands.
It is worth reminding that already In 2023, the Government safety Center suggested that each household should have a supply of food, water and medicines for a minimum of 7 days. This was then ignored or ridiculed by the public. Today, however, the situation is completely different – And there's no more area for jokes.
In 2025 Poland is in a peculiarly hard geopolitical position. The border with Belarus is now a region of continuous incidents and provocations, and possible hybrid threats, including infrastructure sabotage, power outages and communications interference, are assessed as real.
Therefore, the preparation of the alleged "evacuation backpack" ceases to be a choice and becomes a common sense. Just as we have a first aid kit or fire extinguisher – we should have our own emergency kit, especially in cities with advanced population density.
What's next? work or voluntary?
Bye. The European Commission's recommendations are not legally binding. However, associate States are required to implement them in national policy. This means that shortly we can anticipate government requiring citizens to be informed of the principles of preparedness and even mandatory training or to be provided with minimum means of survival.
Some local governments in Poland – including Rzeszów, Suwałki and Białystok – consider co-financing the acquisition of evacuation backpacks for the poorest families and seniors. This is simply a consequence to worrying statistics: Almost 45% of Poles would not be able to gather even a basic emergency kit without state aid.
One thing is certain: The planet we knew is changing in front of us. Whether we want it or not – crisis preparedness becomes a fresh standard. Better to be ready sooner than sorry erstwhile it's besides late.
Continued here:
The Union says to prepare escape backpacks. This is not a conspiracy explanation – this is authoritative guidelines!
