(Finance) – Henna Virkkunenexecutive vice -president of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, presented the joint communication of the Commission and the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs for strengthen the safety and resilience of submarine cables. Announced by the president Ursula von der leyen On February 9 in Vilnius during the Baltic Energy Independent Day, joint communication introduces a series of measures to strengthen the resilience of this critical infrastructure, facing prevention, detection, response, recovery and deterrence.
The communication cables connect several Member States together, connect the islands to the EU mainland and connect the EU to the rest of the world, transporting 99% of intercontinental internet traffic. The submarine electric cables facilitate the integration of the electrical markets of the Member States, strengthen their supply safety And they provide offshore renewable energy to the mainland. However, in recent weeks and months, accidents to submarine cables have risked causing serious interruptions in the functions and essential services in the EU, with repercussions on the daily life of EU citizens. This initiative responds directly to these threats.
Joint communication is designed for support all Member States, including those in the Baltic Sea regionwho witnessed a significant increase in accidents with cables.
Key measures include: prevention (intensify the safety requirements and the evaluations of the risks on submarine cables, giving priority to funding for the implementation of new and intelligent cables, allowing greater redundancies and consequently improving resilience; detection (improve the monitoring capacity of threats for maritime basin, such as the Mediterranean or the Baltic Sea, to create a complete situational framework. This will allow more timely notices and more effective answers); Response and recovery (improve the efficiency of the crisis framework at the EU level for rapid action on accidents that have a impact on submarine cables and to increase the repair capacity to ensure rapid repair of damaged cables; deterrence (Apply sanctions and diplomatic measures against hostile actors and the “shadow fleet”, fully exploiting the Hybrid Toolbox to face hybrid campaigns. This also includes the promotion of “cable diplomacy” with global partners).
“No scope of life is now free of threats or hostile behaviors – Kaja Kallas, high representative for foreign affairs And the security policy – recent attacks against submarine cables clearly underline it. This is a vital infrastructure that maintains us connected online and our energy flows, not only between EU member states, but between Europe and many other regions of the world. Today we are adopting measures to protect cables, detect and anticipate threats faster and repair the damage as quickly as possible. We should mobilize all our forces, military and civil skills to guarantee surveillance and attribute the attacks more quickly, sanctioning the managers of sabotage. The potential authors must also be discouraged. This is what we propose today“.