The number of firefighters was cut in 12 EU member states, including Cyprus, in 2023, while Cyprus was the country with the second largest drop in the employment of firefighters that year, according to an analysis by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) of EU Labour Force Survey data which was also published recently by Eurostat.

Numbers show that there were 362,400 firefighters in the EU in 2023, recording an increase of 3,200 on the previous year. However, the ETUC has found that despite the overall increase, there were cuts to fire services in 12 member states (the majority of the countries for which there are figures) including Cyprus, Greece and Italy.

These countries experienced huge wildfires in 2023, the year which happened to be the second hottest recorded in European history.

Cyprus recorded a reduction by 561 firefighters in 2023 (to 1400 from 1961 in 2022), which corresponds to a 28.6% decrease. The country with the highest decrease was Lithuania (-50.1%), while Finland was third (-28%).

In its press release, the ETUC called on the EU and its member states not to make the situation worse by returning to austerity, noting that the European Commission recently announced that it is opening an ‘Excessive Deficit Procedure’ for a quarter of member states, which risks pushing them towards new spending cuts.  

According to the ETUC, the EU should invest in a just transition to a green economy, which would ensure that we tackle climate change while creating quality jobs and properly funding our public services.

The number of firefighters was cut for a second year in a row in Germany, Hungary, Romania and Sweden.

The ETUC is made up of 93 trade union organisations in 41 European countries, plus 10 European Trade Union Federations, and represents 45 million members.