It was announced by the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU as one of its priorities: European cybersecurity will indeed be on the agenda for the meeting of Ministers to be held in Warsaw on Wednesday 5 March.
Poland, which claims to be at the forefront of cyber attacks and defends itself against “several hundred” of them every day, according to its Minister for Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, is particularly keen to have a constructive discussion on updating the EU’s cyber security plan.
This plan, a new version of which was presented by the Commission on Monday 24 February (see EUROPE 13586/19), is intended to establish the European framework for crisis management and has not been updated for almost 10 years.
The Ministers are also expected to discuss the investment needed in the sector, by taking a look at the most effective means implemented in the various member countries.
The last item on the agenda is cooperation between the civilian and military sectors in the field of cyber security, which will also be discussed in terms of “the challenges facing Member States in a rapidly evolving digital threat landscape, particularly in light of the ongoing war on the EU’s external border”, explains the Polish Presidency.
Despite this, the current evaluation of the European Cybersecurity Act (CSA) with a view to a potential revision is not likely to be mentioned by the Member States, nor is the role and capacity for action given to the European Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA).
Last December, at the Telecommunications Council, several Member States took the floor to stress the importance of the Agency’s role in the implementation of legislation and new regulatory frameworks such as the revised Directive on network and information security (known as NIS2), the CSA and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA).
“The enlargement of ENISA’s responsibilities and the growing complexity of cyber threats and challenges have led to a considerable increase in its tasks, which should be reflected in adequate resources - human, financial and technical - to enable the Agency to fully carry out all the tasks under its responsibility”, stated the EU27 in their joint declaration at the end of the Council (see EUROPE 13540/5).
For its part, the Polish Presidency of the EU Council believes that “enhancing the European Union’s cyber resilience requires broad cooperation and coordinated actions, making the discussions at the TTE Council crucial for the future of European cybersecurity”.
A joint statement is due to be issued at the end of the informal meeting on Wednesday. It is expected to focus first on the need to implement recent regulations, without however addressing the issue of simplification, which should come later in the year with a simplification ‘Digital Package’ similar to the ‘omnibus’ package recently presented by the Commission (see EUROPE 13588/4).
See the meeting programme: https://aeur.eu/f/fqa (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)