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This Beauvau of Civil Security had been announced in April 2024 by the Minister of the Interior at the time, Gérald Darmanin, before being interrupted by the dissolution of the Assembly in June. The work was restarted five months later and is now under the leadership of François-Noël Buffet, Minister to the Minister of the Interior.

Four workshops were held in different cities, each with a specific theme and bringing together a myriad of stakeholders (firefighters, ambulance drivers, emergency medical services, associations, communities, etc.). The last workshop is being held on Tuesday in Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire) around the governance and financing of the future civil security model.

The stated objective of the minister, who will be in Mâcon, is to establish "the operational model for civil security for the next 20 years", more than twenty years after the 2004 civil security modernization law.

Mr. Buffet aims to present a bill to Parliament before the summer, placing particular emphasis on the "revision of civil security missions, the financial burden and the adaptation of resources."

"Overcommitment of agents"

Civil security - whose mission is to help people, from accidents to fires to disasters - relies almost 81% on volunteering and community involvement.

Among these non-professionals, there are approved civil security associations (AASC) - around 100.000 staff - and a little over 200.000 volunteer firefighters, while neighbouring Germany has over a million. Some 43.000 professional firefighters also participate in this strained system.

The organizational methods are heterogeneous, with different levels of donors ranging from the State to communities and the associative sphere, which complicates the coordination of actions.

The approved civil security associations are asking to have "a more important place in the operation" in order to "strengthen the coordination and support of the population", according to Florent Vallée, national director of emergencies and operations at the French Red Cross.

"The problem is rather in the crises. We know how to do things very well, but it is true that we can greatly improve the care of populations which would save time on a whole range of interventions", continues Mr. Vallée.

However, "the crises are bigger and more significant" even though "in normal times, we are already in difficulty with everyday life", notes Sébastien Delavoux, coordinator of the CGT of the SDIS (Departmental Fire and Rescue Services). According to him, "civil security has its pants around its ankles: we are told that it is doing well, but today it only functions thanks to the over-commitment of the agents".

Volunteers contribute greatly and their working conditions and remuneration must be questioned, comments Sébastien Bouvier, CFDT federal secretary in charge of SDIS.

For the time being, "we are moving forward completely blindly" in this Beauvau, and "the topics covered range from the place of citizens to mine clearance experts to the situation in Mayotte, it is so vast, what will it give birth to?", wonders the CFDT representative. "This is not a project that we can deal with in three months," he says, nevertheless welcoming the fact that the authorities "at least have the merit of bringing us together."

The firefighters, the "backbone" of the emergency services, will be "very vigilant" about what comes out of these consultations, insists Jean-Paul Bosland, president of the National Federation of Firefighters of France (FNSPF).

Several stakeholders interviewed stressed the need to install a common emergency call management platform across the country, which they believe will ensure more efficient and less costly support. All stressed the need to redefine civil security missions.

"Some non-urgent missions may be intended for other organisations than the fire brigade, or perhaps be billed," Mr Bosland suggests.

Overall for this Beauvau, "there are still questions that have never been asked before, so it is not uninteresting", believes Sébastien Delavoux.