On Tuesday 19 October, the Ministers of the Member States meeting in the General Affairs Council adopted the conclusions drawn up by the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council related to exploring the potential for a Joint Cyber Unit (see EUROPE 12808/10).
The Council of the EU has emphasised the importance of further developing the framework for managing cyber security crises by consolidating existing networks and mapping current gaps.
This should, in the opinion of the EU Council, mean that the main objectives of the potential joint unit can be defined.
The EU Council conclusions also state that Member States should have “adequate governance” to ensure that national competences are respected. The text also notes that Member States must have “primarily responsibility for the response to large-scale cybersecurity incidents and crises affecting them” (see EUROPE 12808/10).
The participation of Member States in the joint unit would be on a voluntary basis, says the document.
Finally, the EU Council has called for further reflection on cyber security rapid response teams. The deployment of these should also be linked to a review of the EU action plan to respond to cyber security incidents.
On 23 June, the European Commission presented its plan for the creation of the Joint Cyber Unit (see EUROPE 12747/8). The draft conclusions of the Presidency of the EU Council were approved by Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper II) on 13 October.
See the draft conclusions: https://bit.ly/3oKWvke (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)