Brussels, 12/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission presented various measures aimed at improving the protection of critical infrastructures in Europe: - a proposal for a directive to establish a list of critical European infrastructures to counter a terrorist attack, for example, and a communication on the European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP) which includes measures aimed at EPCIP implementation.
Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini said in a press release that the “disruption of such infrastructure could mean the loss of lives, the loss of property and a collapse of public confidence in the EU”. He went on to add that the series of measures presented “aims at ensuring that any eventual disruptions or manipulations of critical infrastructure remain as brief, infrequent, manageable, geographically isolated and minimally detrimental as possible”.
The proposal for a directive establishes a procedure for the identification and designation of European Critical Infrastructure and the assessment of the need to improve their protection. The Commission above all envisages drawing up a list of critical infrastructure in Europe. This list, which will remain confidential, will be established according to criteria based on the magnitude of the consequences entailed by disruption or destruction of sensitive infrastructure - number of people affected, economic, environmental, political and psychological impact. Before an official list can be drawn up by the Commission, it will be up to each Member State to identify and communicate the infrastructure that meet such criteria. In a concern for confidentiality, the Commission hopes it will have generic information and a complete database on the sensitive sites proposed by the Member States. The Commission already foresees working on 11 specific sectors: energy, nuclear, information and communication technology, water, food, health, finance,, transport, chemicals industry, space, and research installations. These sectors will then be divided up into 29 sub-sectors.
The Commission takes the view that it is necessary to differentiate between critical European infrastructure and national critical infrastructure. In order to determine the European nature of the infrastructure, an event (for example, a natural disaster) must have a major crossborder effect involving at least two Member States. The Commission also explained that the subsidiarity principle will fully apply to this directive given that it is up to Member States to protect their own critical infrastructure.
Among the obligations resulting from the draft directive are firstly, implementation by those responsible for security classified infrastructure, of standard and emergency security measures depending on the level of risk, as well as the appointment of a liaison officer in charge of security in each Member State. 70% of the costs for implementation of the directive will be assumed by those in charge of the infrastructure in question, the remaining 30% funded by the EU. The future “Prevention, preparations and management of the consequences of terrorism and other security related risks”, whose budget stands at an estimated €137.5 million for 2007-13, will facilitate the funding of the planned measures. Part of the budgets from other programmes can also be used, like crime prevention (€600 million) and security (€280 million). Community funding will, however, not cover investment on equipment or areas already covered by other financial instruments like the rapid response mechanism in the event of major crises.
The communication presented by the Commission also outlines the EPCIP. This document includes measures for facilitating implementation of EPCIP and whose action plan, the alarm network, involves critical infrastructure (CIWIN) and procedures for sharing information on protecting critical infrastructure, detection and analysis of dependency links. As part of a public/private partnership, the Commission is also planning on setting up working groups uniting national Member States and representatives from different sectors. It also intends to work with bodies such as the European Central Bank on subjects that involve the security of sensitive financial infrastructures. The Commission also intends providing support for Member States desiring support for their critical national infrastructures. In an external arena, the Commission intends to involve the protection of critical infrastructure in third countries (problems with gas pipelines and European dependency) and develop a core dialogue as well as negotiations for protocols for agreements with countries concerned. Other communications on targeted sectors will soon be published by the Commission. Next week a communication on the protection of critical infrastructure in the specific area of transport will be published. (bc)