Minister appoints expert panel: to strengthen cooperation in Danish emergency preparedness

Minister for for Resilience and Preparedness, Torsten Schack Pedersen, has appointed a new expert panel that will contribute with analyses and input to the collaboration between the state and municipal rescue services. The panel’s work will support a central analysis initiative in the Agreement on the Emergency Preparedness Area 2025-2026.

The expert panel will focus on the organization of the rescue service and analyze how the cooperation between the state and municipalities can best be adapted to future needs in light of current challenges such as the security situation, climate change, green transition, and civil protection.

The panel will also assist the government with input on larger and principled issues, such as assessments of the need for new legislation. This work runs concurrently with the cross-sectoral vulnerability analyses that the minister has also initiated.

-“Denmark has a good emergency preparedness, but we are facing a new reality with serious and complex threats to our security, safety, and freedom. Cooperation between the state and municipal rescue services is important for a well-functioning overall Danish emergency preparedness. Therefore, I am very pleased that we have assembled a broad expert panel that can provide input on selected areas,” says Torsten Schack Pedersen.

The expert panel consists of eight members with backgrounds in emergency preparedness, police, crisis management, public administration, research, and climate adaptation. The members are Jakob Vedsted Andersen, Director of Emergency Services in the Capital Region Preparedness, Rikke Sønderriis, Director of Emergency Services in Frederiksborg Brand & Rescue, Christine Engel Christensen, Acting Director of the Danish Emergency Management Agency, Henrik Skals, Police Inspector at North Jutland Police, Sascha Volmer Sørensen, former Municipal Director in Gribskov Municipality, Rasmus Dahlberg, lecturer at the Defense Academy, Kristian Cedervall Lauta, professor and researcher in disaster theory and disaster relief at the University of Copenhagen, and Gunnar Wedell van der Leeden, department head for weather and warnings at DMI.

The first meeting of the expert panel will take place on June 25. The panel is expected to present its overall input before the end of 2025 and can also be consulted on an ongoing basis regarding their individual areas of expertise.

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