Dear Colleague,

We hereby present to you the final newsletter of the year 2023.

The importance of securing critical infrastructure from damages has been underlined once more during the incidents affecting a pipeline and communication cables in the Baltic Sea this autumn. Affected EU Member States coordinated their reaction with European and NATO partners, sending clear and coherent messages, such as in the Conclusions of the European Council from 27 October. While the incidents are being investigated, it has become clear that unified public reaction is an essential response to avoid that suspicious incidents are misused to spread uncertainty and put markets and supply in disorder.

The EU acts in 2023 on a much stronger framework for cooperation: the implementation of the CER Directive is progressing with the adoption of a common list of essential services now being finalised. The additional measures from the December 2022 Council recommendation on critical infrastructure on preparedness, response and international cooperation are further shaping up. The most notable recent development is the adoption of a proposal for a Critical Infrastructure Blueprint by the Commission, which is now being discussed with EU Member States.

The framework is further complemented by the revised EU Maritime Security Strategy, which Member States endorsed in October 2023. Its action plan also includes elements to further strengthen resilience of critical infrastructure at and under the sea. Threats posed to all types of critical infrastructure by drones are addressed in a new Communication from the Commission, also adopted in October. Those are just few examples of the many work strands that are undertaken in the critical infrastructure domain. In the newsletter, you will find other activities from projects, international partners and the research community. 

The newsletter is a joint effort of the European Commission's Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs (HOME) and Joint Research Centre (JRC). We take this opportunity to thank the whole community for a decisive year, in which we were able to expand our cooperation in this important field. We look forward to continue this great work with stakeholders from Member States, operators and industry, international partners, as well as academia and civil society. 

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

We invite you to flag your topics for the next editions by emailing us.

Happy reading,

The Editorial Team