European Parliament Position on EU Cyber Security and Defense Policy

Ensuring cyber security in scope of cyber defense is currently among the top priorities of the EU Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP). Matters included in scope of cyber defense are a competence of the Member States and cooperation at EU level in this area is governed by decisions of the EU Council based on unanimity. This means that the European Parliament (EP) in the field of cyber defens acts only as an opinion-forming body expressing its position through the adoption of non-legislative resolutions. The aim of the article is to analyze the content of these resolutions and present the EP’s opinion on the challenges facing the EU in the field of cyber defense. It should be stressed that the EP is the EU body that strongly emphasizes the need for a common EU approach to these issues. Given that the area of cyber defence is subject to intergovernmental cooperation mechanisms, the EP considers that the EU needs to develop not only cooperation and coordination mechanisms at the level of its institutions, but also to take action to enhance the EU’s capability to counter cyber threats. These significant cyber defense capabilities should be essential elements of the CSDP and of the development of the European Defense Union, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to counter cyber attacks for the Member State level alone. The role of the CSDP should be to ensure that the EU, in cooperation with NATO, has an autonomous strategic capability to act in the field of cyber defense.