Security is an issue that pervades all spheres of life. For this reason, the EU has decided to take a holistic approach to security. This communication provides an overall framework to support national policies by anticipating and tackling evolving threats whether they be online/offline, digital/physical or internal/external.
The strategy sets out 4 strategic EU-level priorities.
The critical infrastructures1 we use in our daily lives must be safe and resilient and the technologies we depend on must be protected from ever more sophisticated cyberattacks, whether from inside or outside the EU.
Key actions to be taken will include:
This priority covers aspects such as cybercrimes (e.g. identity theft or theft of business data), illegal online content (child sexual abuse or incitement to hate or terrorism) and hybrid threats (combinations of conventional/unconventional and military/non-military activities).
The strategy proposes a series of actions, such as ensuring that cybercrime legislation is enforced and fit for purpose, reviewing the EU operational protocol to counter hybrid threats and drawing up a more effective strategy against child sexual abuse.
The strategy highlights the way that terrorism and radicalism cost lives and destabilise society and the fact that organised crime is responsible for economic losses of between €218 and €282 billion every year.
Actions to be taken include:
A collective priority for EU governments, law enforcement authorities, businesses, NGOs and individuals is to combat crime and promote justice by cooperating more closely and sharing information. This means ensuring that the EU’s external borders are strong to provide security for the public and the travel-free Schengen area. It also means investing in security research and innovation in new technologies and techniques to counter and anticipate threats, and in skills and awareness-raising so that businesses, administrations and individuals are better prepared.
Actions that could be taken to develop a stronger European security ecosystem include:
The European Commission:
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the EU Security Union Strategy (COM(2020) 605 final, )
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