More solidarity against Cyberattacks

Tonight, negotiators from the European Parliament and Member States agreed on the EU's new Cyber Solidarity Act, a law to make Europe more resilient against cyber threats and to strengthen cooperation in case of cyberattacks.

MEP Angelika Niebler, who negotiated the Cyber Solidarity Act on behalf of the EPP Group, says: "Cyberattacks, especially ones on our critical infrastructure, can have serious consequences, as the cyberattack on more than 100 hospitals in Romania a few days ago have shown. In the current geopolitical situation, we recognise the threat that cross-border cyberattacks pose to us. Today’s agreement is another step towards stronger cybersecurity in Europe. The Cybersecurity Alert System and the Cybersecurity Reserve, which have been agreed upon, are important building blocks for a stronger European cybersecurity ecosystem. The new Cybersecurity Reserve, in particular, makes a lot of sense and will improve our ability to respond to cyberattacks that cannot be resolved by the attacked entities. The new Cybersecurity Alert System creates incentives for Member States to exchange information on cyber threats and cyberattacks, thereby strengthening our joint resilience."

The Cybersecurity Reserve will consist of incident response services from trusted private providers of managed security services that can be called upon to support Member States, EU institutions, agencies and certain third countries, in the event of significant and large-scale cybersecurity incidents that they cannot handle themselves.

"It was important for me to define clear criteria under which circumstances non-European companies, which also have a registered office in the EU, could be eligible to participate in the Reserve. We have also secured a more sustainable source of funding than the Commission initially envisaged, which will not take away funding from other important cyber priorities, such as strengthening cyber skills," Niebler added.

Member States and the European Parliament must still formally approve the legislation. A final plenary vote will likely take place in April.