Agreement with Council on EU Cybersecurity competence centre and network
- The initiative will increase Europe’s capacity against cyber threats
- Aims to stimulate innovation among small businesses, start-ups
- Cybersecurity centre to be located in Bucharest, Romania
Plans to reinforce Europe’s preparedness and resilience against cyber attacks by creating a pool for innovation and expertise were agreed on Friday between Parliament and Council.
The new cybersecurity competence centre, to be based in Bucharest, will pool expertise in cybersecurity research and bring together the European cybersecurity competence community. It will also provide financial support from the Horizon Europe and Digital Europe programmes to innovative projects from start-ups and SMEs.
“We have managed to reach a remarkable deal, that has the potential to really bring forward the cybersecurity research sector in Europe” said lead MEP Rasmus Andresen (Greens/EFA, DE).
“Especially in times when so much of our daily activities, and even political negotiations are taking place online, it becomes all the more important that we ensure high levels of innovation in the area of cybersecurity. This new structure will ensure that all the valuable expertise that exists all across Europe - be it in research institutions, small businesses, start-ups, NGOs and the open-source community - are all included in the process of deciding European research priorities. At the same time we bring all the Member states to the table to collectively invest more in this crucial sector and pool our resources” M. Andresen said.
“It has been a challenge to create a structure that involves all the actors, while also ensuring that EU research funding is aligned with European policy priorities and a clear European vision. After 5 trilogues we have now finally reached an agreement that achieves exactly that” he added.
Next steps
The informal agreement concluded with the German presidency of the Council will be confirmed in the Industry committee later this month.
Background
The legislation aims to stimulate the European cybersecurity technological and industrial ecosystem to coordinate and pool relevant resources in the EU. It builds from the contractual Public Private Partnership on cybersecurity created in 2016.
The initiative will be supported by the future Digital Europe and Horizon Europe programmes, foreseen in the next multiannual financial framework.
Contacts:
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Baptiste CHATAIN
Press Officer