MEP Niki Tzavela Hosts Working Lunch on European Critical Infrastructure Protection

The Kosciuszko Institute organized a working lunch under the title Towards a Secure Europe - a fact-finding study of the European Critical Infrastructure and Prospects for its improvement, which took place in the European Parliament (Brussels) on January 30, 2013. The discussion was held under the honorary patronage of Dr Renate Sommer, MEP and Rapporteur of the 2008/114/CE Council Directive to the European Parliament and Ms. Niki Tzavela MEP, Shadow rapporteur of the Critical information infrastructure protection.

Achievements and next steps: towards global cyber-security.

Exploring the topic of Critical Infrastructure Protection is crucial for the security policy of the European Union, because interdependent domains such as energy, transportation, communication, finance and information technologies are under increasing threat. Terrorism and cyber-attacks as well as unthinkable natural disasters like the volcano ash cloud and the domino effect of extreme weather conditions like Sandy have exposed the vulnerability of the critical infrastructure.

Henceforth, the seminar addressed the findings of the study on European Critical Infrastructure in keeping with the 2008/114/CE Council Directive conducted by the Kosciuszko Institute. The facts presented have been obtained with the help of surveys among Member States’ Contact Points for Critical Infrastructure Protection.

The working lunch facilitated a discussion between national operators, security contact points and European legislators over the main concerns regarding critical infrastructure protection. Its main goals were to raise awareness on private-public cooperation in the field and to provide recommendations for policy makers and the business sector on a comprehensive European approach to increase the level of security in Europe.

Critical Infrastructure Protection is currently the main topic of numerous events and seminars in Brussels, however this encounter was mainly dedicated to the innovative area of private – public cooperation and technology in service of European security.