Politics

According to the Commission, the law will support the detection and awareness of cyber threats and incidents, strengthen the preparedness of critical actors, as well as strengthen solidarity, coordinated crisis management and response capacities in member states.

The Commission also introduced a cybersecurity skills academy, as part of the European Year of Skills 2023, to ensure a more coordinated approach to addressing the cybersecurity talent gap. The Academy will bring together various existing initiatives aimed at promoting cybersecurity skills and make them available on an online platform, thereby increasing their visibility and increasing the number of skilled cybersecurity professionals in the EU.

Margaritis Schinas: The law proposes specific measures that will allow the EU to respond to threats and attacks

Vice-President for Promoting the European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, said that "the EU Cyber Solidarity Act and the Cyber Skills Academy are our two new tangible tools to address the EU's operational cyber needs: the law proposes concrete measures to enable the EU to respond to threats and attacks, while the Academy aims to strengthen our skills base so we have the people we need to do so."

For her part, Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe fit for the digital age, noted that "with the cyber package presented today, we show how by acting in solidarity, we can develop the infrastructure, skills and capabilities that we need to address our common growing cyber security threat."

As part of the European Security Union, the EU is committed to ensuring that all European citizens and businesses are well protected, both online and offline, and to promoting an open, secure and stable cyberspace.

The EU Cyber Solidarity Act will strengthen solidarity at Union level to better detect, prepare for and respond to major or large-scale cybersecurity incidents by creating a European Cyber Security Shield and a comprehensive Cyber Emergency Mechanism.

To rapidly and effectively detect major cyber threats, the Commission proposes the creation of a European Cyber Shield, which is a pan-European infrastructure consisting of national and cross-border Security Operations Centers (SOCs) across the EU. Technology such as artificial intelligence will be used artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced data analytics to detect and provide early warnings about cyber threats and incidents across borders. These centers could be operational by early 2024.

The EU Cyber Solidarity Act also includes the creation of an emergency mechanism to increase preparedness and strengthen EU incident response capabilities.

The total budget for all actions under the EU Cyber Solidarity Act is €1.1 billion, of which around 2/3 will be funded by the EU through the Digital Europe Programme.