European Commission calls for greater role over protection of critical infrastructure

The European Commission on Tuesday proposed giving itself a greater support and coordination role to enhance the bloc's preparedness and response against threats to its critical infrastructure, Report informs via Euronews.

In new recommendations unveiled from Brussels, the EU's executive stressed that European critical infrastructure including pipelines, transport ways, or undersea cables is increasingly more interconnected and interdependent, which makes it more efficient but also more vulnerable to incidents or attacks.

It argued therefore that the EU has "a particular role to play" when it comes to cross-border infrastructures and services and called for member states to accelerate the application of new rules to enhance protection and resilience.

Since 2008, the EU has had in place the Critical Infrastructure Directive, and earlier this year, the bloc’s institutions reached a political agreement on new rules with a wider scope.

The updated critical infrastructure directive will cover 11 risk areas, including natural hazards, terrorist attacks, insider threats, and sabotage, but also public health emergencies like the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

The new rules will come into force in 2024, but both the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Johansson have urged countries to apply them sooner after a series of suspected sabotage acts on Nord Stream pipelines and German rail network.

"Member states are already doing stress tests, now we will support them in all ways they might need with coordination, expertise and exchange of best practices," Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told reporters.