NATO and the European Union released a Final Assessment Report produced by the NATO-EU Task Force on the Resilience of Critical Infrastructure on Thursday (29 June 2023). Launched at the beginning of the year, the Task Force focused on mapping out current security challenges, and the particular importance of resilience in energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and space.
The report also makes a number of key recommendations to deepen NATO-EU cooperation further, including through more information exchanges; work to identify alternate transport routes for civilian and military mobility; and closer ties in security research.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
“I thank President von der Leyen for her leadership, and the European Commission and the European External Action Service for their support as part of the NATO-EU Task Force on the resilience of critical infrastructure. This is an excellent example of our cooperation in action. The Task Force’s Report sets out the importance of resilience in energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and space, and makes a number of key recommendations to deepen NATO-EU cooperation even more.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen:
“Our critical infrastructure faces increasingly complex security threats. We need to step up our efforts to ensure its resilience. This is crucial to protect essential services for citizens and support our economies. I’m glad that with Secretary General Stoltenberg we launched an EU-NATO Task Force and today I’m proud that we are presenting the outcome of its work. The Task Force has identified key security challenges in the areas of energy, transport, digital infrastructure and space, and proposes targeted recommendations. We will follow-up and continue working together.”
High Representative / Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell:
“Disruption of critical infrastructure can have massive consequences for our economies, our societies, the security of our citizens, potentially causing disruptions for the military. We must ensure that strengthening resilience of critical infrastructure is an integral part of both civilian and military work. So it is only natural that it is a key part of EU-NATO cooperation. The report prepared by our Task Force provides a solid basis to work together, combining our respective strengths and tools for the benefit of Europe’s and our partners’ security.”