The European Union is walking back claims that it is forming a new continent-wide wildfire-fighting force two weeks after a top commissioner announced it.

As reported by Wildfire Today, EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra announced the Union’s new “rapid reaction force” at a press conference on February 6. Hoekstra specifically said the force would be made up of 300 firefighters from across the Union’s 27-member bloc.

“It is a clear sign of solidarity and that we want to tackle this together,” Hoekstra said at the press conference following a meeting of EU environment and climate ministers in the Cypriot capital.

The European Commission has now distanced itself from the comments, saying Hoekstra misspoke and that there is no new 300-firefighter force being created or deployed. Hoekstra was actually talking systems already in place across the Union, which, as outlined by Wildfire Today, are extensive and well established.

“Commissioner Hoekstra was referring to the existing EU system that pools national firefighting resources – including personnel and equipment – to respond rapidly to wildfires across Europe under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM),” a Commission spokesperson told Wildfire Today in an emailed response.

The spokesperson said that the system includes the year-round European Civil Protection Pool, which includes more than 600 EU-certified firefighting teams and vehicles, 700 other firefighters who are strategically pre-positioned in high-risk areas, and the EU disaster response assets, which include 12 firefighting planes and 5 helicopters.

Wildfire Today has been reporting on the development of a “rapid reaction force” in the EU for years, with the 2008 report that the European Commission passed a resolution to create “the “…a European force that could immediately react in emergencies”.

The EU has also organized firefighting teams and an aircraft fleet for years through its Civil Protection Mechanism and 24/7 Emergency Response Coordination Centre. Countries activated the mechanism 18 times as of September of 2025, a record number of requests from member countries, including the first-ever request from Spain. In total, the EU deployed 38 airplanes, 20 helicopters, and more than 760 personnel to numerous countries.