Margaritis Schinas: The EU takes care of cyber security

European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas highlighted the European Union’s work to create a cyber security framework, emphasizing at the same time the need to safeguard fundamental European freedoms against new challenges.

We must affirm that “to be European means to be safe,” said Mr. Schinas, speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, which begins tomorrow, Friday. The European Commissioner for the Preservation of the European Way of Life noted that Europe has been in a “permanent crisis” (“perma-crisis”) in recent years, “with the pandemic, the instrumentalization of immigration by autocratic leaders in Turkey and Belarus, and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

He spoke of “European success stories” in both the handling of the pandemic and the swift response of Europe and its allies to shield Ukraine and the West against the threat of Russian cyberattacks. “Despite predictions, we did not have a massive cyber attack. Because we provoked the hesitancy of the attacker”, stressed Mr. Schinas.

Cyber Resilience

The “lessons” of recent years led the European Commission to create a single regulatory framework for cyber resilience (Cyber Resilience Act), continued Margaritis Schinas and described the framework as a “smart proposal, good for entrepreneurship”.

Citizens buy products online and put them in their homes. “We owe it to society to be able to tell them that this is safe,” said the vice-president of the Commission, and he also referred to the EU’s effort to secure cyber security, which, he said, is not only about businesses, but is a serious general safety issue.

“We need highly qualified people,” noted Mr. Schinas and emphasized that the Commission has reacted in record times by European standards in order to cover the gaps.

Asked “who is the leader” in the EU, Margaritis Schinas characteristically said that “there is not a Cristiano Ronaldo, but a team, the ‘Team Europe'” and added that the war in Ukraine creates a “global alignment” with the partners of NATO and those who share our way of thinking, “Team West”.