EU emergency number (112) should be available for all

8.19.04am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 16th May 2007

The South East's Liberal Democrat MEP Sharon Bowles is supporting a 'citizens' initiative' in the form of an electronic petition to rejuvenate the European emergency number 112 set up 15 years ago.

The 112 number - working in parallel and in addition to the local emergency number such as the UK's 999 - is designed to put callers in contact with emergency services in all 27 EU member states. But in many of them it is reported to be unreliable. It is not being properly promoted in all member states and lacks technical interoperability and language support in some countries.

Sharon Bowles said: "It's a let-down for Europeans who want to travel in safety that despite being in existence for 15 years, the 112 European emergency number still doesn't work properly. EU governments have failed the public."

"The UK has actually established one of the best systems, yet it is not publicised and only 20% of British people actually know the number. The remaining 80% of Brits are left in ignorance of the system, so when they travel in Europe for business or holidays they are doing so totally unprepared."

"The European Commission really has to get on with this and pursue recalcitrant member states to do whatever is necessary to ensure people across Europe have an optimum level of protection."

In addition to the online petition, the European Parliament recently launched a written declaration calling for the European Commission and Member States to properly implement the 112 service across the EU.

Notes

To sign the electronic petition calling on the European Commission to put in place an efficient 112 number across Europe, go to http://www.112petition.eu/

A copy of the written declaration can be found at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+WDECL+P6-DCL-2007-0044+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN