In a progress report on the action undertaken by the Union in the field of hybrid threats, published on Wednesday 19 July, the European Commission called on the member states to carry out studies “at a much faster pace” on these threats, in an effort to assess the weaknesses of Europe in this field.
Vice President Jyrki Katainen presented the report and informed journalists that “the work will never be over” because “the nature of hybrid threats is evolving all the time”. He was attended in this presentation by the Commissioner for Industry, Elżbieta Bieńkowska. He explained that the aim of these studies was to carry out a common reflection process between the member states as well as gather data, exchange best practices and develop a number of indicators in this area. The Commissioner pointed out that the real difficulty results from the nature of hybrid threats, which affect sectors as varied as transport, energy, cyber security, financial systems and the very problematic area of radicalisation.
On this basis, the Commission is calling on the member states, together with the High Representative and European External Action Service (EEAS), to present national studies on the issue “as soon as possible”, in an effort to identify vulnerable areas, particularly with regard to the hybrid threats to crucial national and pan-European infrastructure.
The work has effectively already begun. The Commission indicated in its report that the Council had set up a working group as part of the “Friends of the Presidency” to develop a “generic” study by the end of 2017, which will serve as the basis for national studies. The objective is to target indicators identifying hybrid threats, so that risk assessment mechanisms can be put into place, as well as early warnings. One diplomatic source, however, explained to EUROPE that the work had just been started by the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
In this context, the Commission is calling on the member states to create national contact points on hybrid threats in an effort to strengthen their cooperation on the basis of developing a united front to tackle these hybrid threats. The EU Hybrid Fusion Cell has recently been set up at the EU intelligence centre analysing the situation. It should be pointed out that 21 members are already involved, according to the report. In this regard, the Commission intends to launch new initiatives for strengthening cooperation between EU member states, as well as with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and is planning on testing this unit’s response capability during a series of simulated EU-NATO exercises carried out at the same time next autumn.
At a more general level, the Commission is calling for cooperation and data exchange to be continued between member states and NATO. It also highlights what support should be delivered to the centre of excellence for countering hybrid threats, created by Finland in April 2017, as well as the StratCom Task Forces working group, which seeks to tackle disinformation campaigns more effectively, particularly in eastern Europe and the Arab world.
The European Defence Fund (see EUROPE 11803) could be used to co-finance related projects and resources in an effort to strengthen the fight against hybrid threats, particularly in the context of the package on cyber security, which is planned for next September, as well as the implementation of the directive on security networks and information systems (directive 2016/1148) adopted in July 2016.
The 18-page progress report draws up a balance sheet of the work achieved and 22 areas of action planned within the common framework for tacking hybrid threats established in April 2016 (see EUROPE 11526) and (see other article in EDD). To consultant this report please see: http://bit.ly/2uCIjgP . (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)