What Is the Future of European Cyber Security?
What Is the Future of European Cyber Security?

Three Principles of European Cooperation and the Hybrid Joint Strategy of Cyber Defence

Summary/Abstract: The author argues that EU member states should pursue a joint strategyof cyber security and cyber defence. This claim does not immediately imply support for current EU legislation, in particular for enforcing the NISDirective or the operation of ENISA in its currently planned capacity. Instead, three principles of European cooperation are discussed and followedby a proposal to centre the joint strategic effort around promoting andexplicating the practical and procedural consequences of these principles. A bottom-up approach to joining and uniformization of European cyberdefence is presented, aligned with the notion of Europeanization in security policy in the sense of E. Gross and R. Ladrech. This approach requiresthat European cyber security agencies, including ENISA, focus their efforts on addressing the trust deficit among the member states through facilitating the environment for safe information exchange, instead of communicating with the member states through the medium of regulationsand prescribing security standards. More generally, the author postulatesthat the European authorities embrace the inherent political character ofinternational trust-building and aspire to the role of mediator, as opposedto presenting themselves as apolitical agents focused on the purely technical aspects of European cyber security.

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