MEPs meeting in Strasbourg on Tuesday 3 May debated the EU’s level of preparedness against cyber attacks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The EU has also been increasingly affected in recent years by cyber attacks in areas ranging from health to telecommunications and to the energy sector. Would the EU be able to respond to such a large-scale attack? Yes, we can, since we have the tools in place”, said Vice-President of the European Commission, Margarítis Schinás, in Strasbourg.
The Vice-President of the Commission also emphasised the need to “rapidly adopt the revised ‘NIS2’ Directive” (see EUROPE 12903/18) and called for increased cooperation between the various EU agencies that are responsible for this area and between Member States.
Regarding this point, Mr Schinás also insisted that public administrations should not be excluded from the scope of the directive, even though some Member States are pushing for this to happen.
While the adoption of the ‘NIS2’ directive was also set up as a priority for a majority of MEPs who spoke in the debate, others, like Eva Maydell (EPP, Bulgaria), also stressed the importance of giving “sufficient resources to businesses” so that they can deal with cyber threats.
Furthermore, several MEPs felt that the problem of the institutions’ lack of preparation – also highlighted by the Court of Auditors on 29 March (see EUROPE 12921/15) – was partly due to the lack of involvement of Member States.
“it is only a matter of time before there are cyber attacks that cause great damage. But Member States are not ready to be as active”, stated Rasmus Andresen regretfully (Greens/EFA, Germany).
“Overall preparedness is influenced by the level of preparedness of Member States”, summarised Anna Bonfrisco (Identity and Democracy, Italy).
Other MEPs have also called for a further strengthening of the security level of institutions, including the European Parliament.
“We need to take the security of our institution much more seriously. At a time when we are calling for more sanctions against Russia, is it reasonable for Russian bi-nationals who are close to their government to work in this Parliament? Strengthening our security also means strengthening our credibility. It is no longer a question of doing what we have always done, because we really haven’t done enough”, said Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe, France).
Finally, the issue of disinformation came up several times during the debates.
“The disinformation campaign we are seeing alongside this war proves the importance of digital technology. The EU can no longer turn a blind eye and I must say that I am disappointed that the French Presidency of the EU Council is not present today in the Chamber”, concluded Adam Bielan (ECR, Poland). (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)