Several days after the disclosures made by the United Kingdom and the Netherlands on far-reaching cyber attacks (see EUROPE 12110), six member states – the above two mentioned plus Romania, Finland, Estonia and Lithuania – called for sanctions to be imposed on the perpetrators of such attacks, EUROPE was informed on 12 October.
"We urgently need to implement a similar regime (Ed: of sanctions) to address malicious cyber activity" , the above explained in a joint letter, hoping for a decision along these lines during the European Council of 18 October. They stated: "The pace of events has accelerated considerably, in particular over the past year, including those of last week" (when the British and Dutch made the disclosures). "This context makes the introduction of such a regime a pressing priority", they added. "Restrictive measures would be a powerful tool for changing behaviour by sending a political sign that malicious cyber activity has consequences", they also say.
A European source explained that a legal framework for combating cyber attacks was "under consideration". Such sanctions were already envisaged in a "cyber-diplomatic tool box", adopted by the Foreign Affairs Council in June 2017, which announces that the EU "will make full use of the measures relating to common foreign and security policy, if necessary, restrictive measures" against persons and entities responsible for a cyber attack (see EUROPE 11811). Member states are also currently working on "common messages" to speed up the EU’s diplomatic response in the event of cyber attack (see EUROPE 12099).
According to draft conclusions from the European Council dated 18 October and seen by EUROPE, European leaders are expected to return to the question of cyber attacks. Although, in this plan, the European Council does not explicitly call for sanctions, it does request that measures be taken to combat cyber and cyber-enabled illegal and malicious activities on the internet and build strong cyber-security. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)