WIREDGOV

On 25-26 March, the Latvian Ministry of Defence and the German Federal Ministry of Defence will organise the conference “Cyber Defence in Europe” in Berlin.

Cyber defence issues will be discussed in four panels - Implications of the EU`s Cyber Defence Policy Framework; the EU`s Mutual Defence and Solidarity Clause in the Cyber Context; Cyber Defence in EU Military Operations; and Civil-Military Cooperation in Cyber Defence.

The event will be opened by Dr Katrin Suder, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Defence and the keynote address will be given by Jānis Sārts, State Secretary at the Latvian Ministry of Defence.

The Latvian Ministry of Defence plans to present conclusions and proposals from the conference to the EU Member States and institutions for further enhancing cyber defence in Europe. It is expected that the conclusions will decisively enrich the debates on this relatively new topic within the EU.

The conference will bring together a broad audience of more than one hundred policy-makers, senior officials and experts from 19 EU Member States and institutions, such as the European External Action Service, the European Network and Information Security Agency, the European Defence Agency, the Working Groups of the Council of the European Union as well as representatives from industry, academia and non-governmental sector. The conference will be held under the Chatham House Rule.

As cyber issues are taking an increasingly greater role on today’s security agenda, the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2015 has set Digital Europe as one of three policy priorities. Cyber security and defence form an inherent part of this priority.

ANETE GNĒZE