The EU commission is worried that many Europeans don't know which emergency number to call when travelling in a different EU member state or even when in their own country. Despite a recent publicity campaign, still only 26 % of EU residents are aware of the Europe-wide emergency phone number 112. This is somewhat disconcerting, with the football European Championships and the Olympics coming up this summer, events for which thousands of tourists will be heading to Poland and Ukraine or London, respectively.

In order to improve this situation, the EU-commission has teamed up with a number of big European transport companies to launch a new awareness campaign, amongst them airlines such as Air Berlin, Easy Jet, British Airways or KLM as well as railway companies like Thalys International or SNCB. While they're travelling, passengers will be informed in special brochures or adverts, that they can dial just three digits – 112 – anytime anywhere in Europe, to get immediate help from local police, ambulance or fire brigade services.

The 112 number can currently be dialled from any EU member state, in some countries it exists alongside an other emergency number, like 999 or 110.

Fans travelling to the Ukraine this summer for Euro 2012, should know that the EU commission is also working on making the 112 number operational in the host cities of this non-EU country.