In view of the continuing difficulties, on Wednesday 13 November the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU will ask the Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) about the follow-up to the discussions concerning the competence centre (see EUROPE 12363/5).
This is the first time that this issue has been raised at the political level since the abandonment of interinstitutional negotiations with the European Parliament in March 2019. As a reminder, it provides for the creation of a centre for the pooling of investments in cybersecurity research, technology and industrial development, as well as financial support related to cybersecurity under the Horizon Europe and the Digital Europe programmes (see EUROPE 12095/18).
The main difficulty in this matter concerns the financial contribution made by the Member States and the use of co-financing. In view of the difficulties relating to the Horizon Europe programme, it was decided that the joint actions of the centre will be co-financed by the EU and the Member States, bearing in mind that the contributions of the Member States could be "variable geometry". This term means that each Member State's contribution will be defined per year and per project and that a Member State is entitled not to contribute.
However, some Member States consider this reference to co-financing to be a red line (see EUROPE 12363/5). They call for it be completely revolutionised, for example by transferring the centre's competences to the current European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) or by providing for a lighter structure. In their view, it could indeed be limited to a coordination role and would have no funding role or would only have to deal with the funding of the Digital Europe Programme, without having a role related to the Horizon Europe Programme.
In view of these differences, the Finnish Presidency decided to refer the matter to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper). However, it will be necessary to wait for a forthcoming meeting of the ambassadors before a new mandate is discussed and discussions with the European Parliament can resume. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)