The Council of the European Union's horizontal working group on "Building resilience and countering hybrid threats" will hold its first meeting on Monday 22 July (see EUROPE 12293/10).
This group, created under the impetus of the Romania-Finland-Croatia trio presidency, is a symbol of the importance that the Finnish presidency attaches to the fight against cyber threats.
So, as announced in its programme (see EUROPE 12292/25, EUROPE 12284/8), the Finnish Presidency of the Council is highlighting the fight against hybrid threats and the strengthening of cooperation between Member States in this field. Considering that these threats concern many aspects of politics, it will include this issue on the agenda of several formal or informal ministerial meetings.
"Building resilience requires cooperation between different players in various policy areas", a European official told the press on Friday 19 July.
And the issue will be addressed at a high level. So at the informal meeting of Ministers of the Interior and Justice, the latter worked on a hybrid threat scenario. They will return to the subject at their formal meeting in October with a discussion on these threats to internal security.
At the end of August, the Foreign and Defence Ministers will be briefed by their political and defence policy directors on the outcome of their discussion on this subject in early July.
In September, the Ministers of Economy and Finance will also be faced with a scenario encouraging them to manage hybrid threats that could affect financial systems.
"If the system goes down, it makes our societies more vulnerable", said the official.
Finally, in December, the General Affairs Council will return to the issue of hybrid threats and disinformation. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)