The 72-Hour Blind Spot in Europe’s Crisis Strategy

While the EU’s Preparedness Union Strategy introduces vital guidance for first responders and crisis communication, a regional diagnostic across 38 countries reveals that disability inclusion remains fragmented and discretionary. Policy commitments often exist on paper, yet they fail to guarantee the continuity of support required for survival. When systems falter, the administrative survival of a service matters little if the individual it serves is left unable to eat, move, or communicate.

To address this, a human continuity test is required. This framework shifts focus from service availability to the preservation of essential human functions. It operates on a weakest-link principle: an accessible warning system or a functioning hospital is irrelevant if the transport or personal assistance needed to access them disappears. By evaluating whether a person can still exercise their rights and make decisions during a disruption, this model exposes the flaw in assuming a universal 72-hour survival threshold.

True resilience requires moving beyond the language of individual self-sufficiency. Independence is, in practice, a form of organized interdependence—a network of reliable care and accessible infrastructure. As the Commission considers an EU Preparedness Law to set binding standards, it must integrate these continuity metrics into its monitoring mechanisms. Citizenship should not be a status that dissolves the moment infrastructure fails; Europe’s defense strategy succeeds only when it ensures that no one is abandoned within those critical first three days.