The European External Action Service (EEAS) has announced that on Thursday 28 September, the European Union launched an exercise for the first time to test its crisis response tools and mechanisms to counter cyber and hybrid threats.
This "parallel and coordinated" exercise – PACE17 – lays out a scenario of a hybrid threat affecting the EU and its member states, and tests (until 4 October) their reactivity to such security challenges, the EEAS says in its press release. "The objective of the exercise is to enhance preparedness and evaluate the effectiveness of EU instruments and mechanisms in case of an eventual attack, as well as to consequently propose improvements where needed", it adds.
The EEAS states that the exercise focuses on four key areas – situational awareness, the effectiveness of European instruments to counter cyber threats at EU level, the speed of reaction and appropriate reactivity of the EU's crisis response mechanisms, and the EU's capacity to communicate fast and in a coordinated way. The exercise will be followed by an evaluation phase to identify lessons learned and improve the EU toolbox.
A separate NATO crisis management exercise – CMX17 – will take the relay from 4 to 11 October. Although CMX17 and PACE are being conducted independently, they will be carried out "in a parallel and coordinated manner, ensured by EU-NATO staff-to-staff coordination and participation throughout both exercises", the EEAS states, adding that the aim is to improve the synchronisation of crisis response activities between the two organisations.
Elsewhere, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini announced during speech in Maastricht on 28 September that she would visit Helsinki on Monday 2 October with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, for the inauguration of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)