With EU support, the Marhetak project has improved the preparation and coordination of cross-border crisis management in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine.
Rescue services did everything possible on the ground to save lives and other EU Member States also provided assistance. However, extreme weather conditions and a lack of cross-border communication and coordination made the consequences of the July 2021 floods particularly severe. With 39 dead, the floods are considered the largest natural disaster in Belgium's history.
After this disaster ‘it was necessary to rethink the crisis management system’, explains Colin Glesner, crisis manager at the Walloon Public Service. The European project Marhetak, supported by the Interreg programme and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund in 2022-2023, contributed to this work.
Rivers know no borders
The project’s name, Marhetak, draws from the Dutch word for mistletoe – a symbol of fertility and love – reflecting the partnership’s aim to strengthen bonds across borders. The acronym stands for ‘Maas-Rhein Taskforce’, uniting the security region (Veiligheidsregio) of southern Dutch Limburg, Euregio Meuse-Rhin Incident Response and Crisis Management (EMRIC), the Walloon Public Service, the Belgian Federal Public Service Home Affairs and the Water Board (Waterschap) of Dutch Limburg.
In the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, the partners collaborated with other crisis services, such as those of the governor of the province of Liège, to discuss how to better anticipate, plan and coordinate during floods. ‘Municipalities are central players, but they cannot take the problem as a whole into consideration, because rivers and floods have no administrative boundaries’, says Colin Glesner.
Coordinating crisis response across borders
Tony Hosmans, head of the services of the governor of the province of Liège, responsible for alerting Liège’s population in the event of an emergency, recalls with sadness the disaster of July 2021. He explains that 1 of the main factors preventing emergency assistance from arriving was the sometimes-insufficient flow of information: ‘Partly because of the bad weather, it took almost 3 days to get an overview of the situation on the ground.’ The region nevertheless received support from rescue teams deployed by France, Italy and Austria through the EU civil protection mechanism, under the coordination of the European Commission.
Partly because of the bad weather, it took almost 3 days to get an overview of the situation on the ground.
The Marhetak project ensures better coordination of cross-border information systems integrating forecasts and analyses of hydrological, meteorological and soil-monitoring services, along with digital tools for visualisation and crisis management. This gives emergency services a faster, more comprehensive overview of an emergency situation.
Paragon, the national security portal developed by the Belgian National Crisis Center and tested for the first time during the Marhetak project, plays an essential role here: ‘In a crisis situation, 1 of the difficulties is really the amount of information to be processed. Paragon ensures the exchange of information between all stakeholders in real time. This allows decisions to be made as quickly as possible in the interest of the citizens’ safety’, says Tony Hosmans. Information provided by citizens themselves, such as on social media, has also become an essential link in the development of crisis action plans.
Better equipped in the face of crises
In addition to modernising prevention and planning infrastructure, the Marhetak project partners have also strengthened their emergency response capabilities. They have invested in specialised equipment, such as drones and life jackets, and in staff training and exercises to enhance readiness, communication and coordination. For example, mobile dikes, which EMRIC can already deploy across the region with EU support to ensure flood protection during periods of elevated risk, are an important element in this regard.
As director of the cultural centre Ourthe et Meuse in Angleur, Pascale Pierard still provides psychological support to victims. She helps them overcome the suffering caused by the 2021 floods. Pascale stresses that victims seek clear, objective answers assuring them that they will not experience another disaster like that of 2021, which is exactly what Marhetak aims to achieve.
Discover our video report in French, with the testimonies of Dorothy (victim of the floods), Colin Glesner and Simon Riguelle (Public Service of Wallonia), Tony Hosmans (services of the governor of the province of Liège) and Pascale Pierard (director of the cultural centre Ourthe et Meuse in Angleur).
Story by the European Commission Representation in BelgiumPublication date: 15/07/2026, original story in French.
