According to draft conclusions dated 16 December, the European Council meeting on Thursday 18 and Friday 19 December is expected to strongly condemn all recent hybrid attacks against the European Union and its Member States.
Faced with the “intensification” of the hybrid campaign led by Russia and Belarus, European leaders are calling for an acceleration of efforts to consolidate resilience, protect critical infrastructures and prevent, deter and counter hybrid attacks throughout the territory of the Union, “using all relevant policies and instruments, including through further restrictive measures against those countries”.
On Monday, the Foreign Affairs Council took measures against those responsible for Russian hybrid attacks and strengthened its regime of measures against Belarus to cover hybrid activities against EU Member States (see EUROPE 13773/2, 13773/3).
At the European Council, leaders are expected to take stock of progress in implementing announced measures on European defence and security, including ongoing work on capability coalitions, priority capability areas and the launch of concrete projects in the first half of 2026, and work to strengthen the European Defence Agency (see EUROPE 13770/18).
The European Council calls for work to be stepped up on all the areas of work identified at its October summit (see EUROPE 13737/2) and invites the co-legislators to continue work on the relevant legislative proposals as a matter of priority.
See the draft conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/k1d (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)