Integrated National Security Assessment Centre

National Security Enforcement Threat Assessment

31. Welcomes the adoption on 18 November 2014 of the EU Cyber Defence Policy Framework, setting out five priorities for cyberdefence in the context of the CSDP and clarifying the role of different actors; welcomes the framework’s goal of supporting the development of national cyberdefence capabilities and strengthening the protection of communication networks used for CSDP instruments; underlines the importance of achieving a common level of cybersecurity among the Member States in order to make adequate progress as regards cooperat ...[+++]ion in cyberdefence, and to strengthen our capabilities as regards cyberattacks and cyberterrorism, and hopes that this action plan will mark the beginning of a move towards the more systematic integration of cyberdefence in Member States’ national security strategies, and an awareness of the importance of cyberdefence issues among the institutions of the EU; calls furthermore, for a coherent European strategy to secure critical (digital) infrastructure against cyberattacks, while also protecting and promoting citizens’ digital rights and freedoms; recalls the need for more clarity and a proper legal framework, given the difficulties of attributing cyberattacks and the need for a proportionate and necessary response in all contexts;

31. Welcomes the adoption on 18 November 2014 of the EU Cyber Defence Policy Framework, setting out five priorities for cyberdefence in the context of the CSDP and clarifying the role of different actors; welcomes the framework’s goal of supporting the development of national cyberdefence capabilities and strengthening the protection of communication networks used for CSDP instruments; underlines the importance of achieving a common level of cybersecurity among the Member States in order to make adequate progress as regards cooperat ...[+++]ion in cyberdefence, and to strengthen our capabilities as regards cyberattacks and cyberterrorism, and hopes that this action plan will mark the beginning of a move towards the more systematic integration of cyberdefence in Member States’ national security strategies, and an awareness of the importance of cyberdefence issues among the institutions of the EU; calls furthermore, for a coherent European strategy to secure critical (digital) infrastructure against cyberattacks, while also protecting and promoting citizens’ digital rights and freedoms; recalls the need for more clarity and a proper legal framework, given the difficulties of attributing cyberattacks and the need for a proportionate and necessary response in all contexts;

Such a Centre would operate strictly within the legal mandate of Europol, and would not affect Member States' sole responsibility for safeguarding national security, nor the role of the EU Intelligence Analysis Centre (INTCEN) in the area of intelligence-based assessment of the terrorist threat.

13. Considers that there are different national approaches to assessing the effects of aircraft crashes on the safety of NPPs; notes that ‘aircraft crashes have not been considered explicitly as an initiating event in the safety assessments’, and that only their effects have been outlined in the stress test specifications; regrets, however, the fact that only four Member States have included such assessments in their stress test reports; notes, nonetheless, that the stress test specifications state that ’the assessment of consequences of loss of safety functions is relevant also if the situation ...[+++] is provoked by indirect initiating events for instance (...) airplane crash’; also notes that, given that this risk falls primarily within the area of Member States’ national security concerns and, therefore, sovereignty, an Ad Hoc Group on Nuclear Security (AHGNS) has been set up with the task of examining the issue in detail and publishing its conclusions; is aware that further exchanges between Member States are planned on that subject within appropriate forums such as the European Nuclear Security Regulators Association (ENSRA); asks all interested stakeholders, including Member States, the Commission, ENSREG, ENSRA and NPP operators, to work together in order to anticipate and agree a common approach to dealing with the risk of aircraft crashes, while recognising that this risk falls within the area of Member States’ national security concerns and sovereignty;