Meeting in Warsaw on Wednesday 5 March for an informal summit, the European ministers responsible for digital affairs discussed at length a number of issues relating to the Union’s cybersecurity.
The Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, which had stated its desire to put tackling cyber attacks back at the top of the European digital and technological agenda, wanted to use this meeting as an opportunity to discuss the defence and preparedness systems of member countries and to tackle the issue of funding (see EUROPE 13592/5).
The representatives of the Baltic and Nordic States came out strongly in favour of greater European cooperation against the attacks, especially as the vast majority of them come from Russia and are evidence of “the extension of a hybrid war that Moscow is waging against the Union”, according to the Polish minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski.
“We have to realise that we need to be armed to act preventively so that there are no critical situations to which we have to respond urgently. Cybersecurity should be the subject of a special clause among the issues dealing with strengthening resilience and security in Europe”, he believes. He called for “a European cybersecurity fund”, which should be one of the elements in “the construction of a common European cyber shield”.
For the Estonian minister, whose country was the first to fall victim to a national cyber attack in the 2000s, threats of this kind are still not taken seriously enough by the EU.
“There is a significant lack of cooperation between Member States. These attacks are not considered in the same way as physical bombardments, but in reality that is what they are”, warned Liisa Pakosta ahead of the meeting.
Published at the end of the meeting, the joint statement mentions the desire of the Member States for legislation to be “harmonised”, to “enhance cooperation” both between the EU27 and between the military and civilian spheres, and to “find ways for simplification and burden reduction” in the sector.
The EU27 are calling for the “timely adoption” of the new EU cybersecurity plan (see EUROPE 13586/18), “a necessary tool to address the current challenges and complex cyber threat landscape”, they say.
Asked about the issue of simplification, particularly in view of the ‘Digital Package’ due to be presented later this year, the Commissioner for Digital Issues and Technological Sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen, replied that the Commission was in the “process of assessing” the various pieces of legislation in place and their potential overlaps.
“Cybersecurity legislation contains a large number of requirements in terms of reporting obligations, so we’re going to look in concrete terms at how to reduce them”, she explained at the final press conference.
The Commission is due to present the new version of the EU cybersecurity plan to the Member States as soon as possible, with a view to its adoption in the near future.
To see the joint statement, go to https://aeur.eu/f/fqw (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)