The EU Security Union Strategy 2020 - 2025 was adopted on July 24, 2020 by the European Commission. It provides and outlines ways to help protect European member states and their citizens from security threats within the next five years. This Strategy is based on four pillars (European Commission, n.d.).which are:
A future-proof security environment
Tackling evolving threats
Protecting Europeans from terrorism and organized crime
A strong European security ecosystem
Figure 1
The EU Security Union Strategy
Note: This image was retrieved from the European Commission (n.d.).
The graphic above clearly outlines the four pillars and the respective components that will enable each initiative to become effective.
The 2015 European Agenda on Security gave the original basis to this initiative and sought to encourage effort and responsibility from the European Union and all member states to come together for the common purpose of solving security challenges.
The Four Pillars of the EU Security Union Strategy
1. A future-proof security environment
The main highlights under this pillar focus on cyber security, protecting public spaces, and critical infrastructure.
According to the European Commission (Eur-Lex, 2020), “We need to build capabilities and capacities for early detection and rapid response to security crises through an integrated and coordinated approach…”
In light of the crisis that has been escalating between Russia and Ukraine, this could be a vital way to prevent any more uprisings and to be prepared in the event that they escalate. In fact, when Europeans were surveyed and asked about how they thought Russia could cause security damage in the event that it attacked Ukraine, several people showed concern that this could be detrimental to their safety.
Figure 2
To what extent does Russia’s stance on Ukraine pose a security threat in each of these areas?
Note: This image has been retrieved from Krastev, I. & Leonard, M. (2022).
Military action would be the first form of definite destruction in relation to the Russia-Ukrainian crisis. The graphic above also shows that citizens are also concerned about cyber-attacks so therefore, cyberspace is not exempt from being a battleground. Infact, cyber-attacks are currently one of the top threats to the EU in addition to ransomware, malware, data breaches and leaks (Consilium, 2021).
As part of the solution, the European Commission outlines the need for a Joint Cyber Unit that “will help civilian, law-enforcement, diplomatic and cyber defence communities cooperate to prevent, deter and respond to cyberattacks (Digital Strategy - European Commission, 2021).” This will utilize a lot of the cyber experts available and with this high level of collaboration, they will be able to provide protection and support.
2. Tackling evolving threats
The main areas of focus under this pillar are modern law enforcement, cybercrime, illegal content online, and hybrid threats.
The European Commission would like to provide a more efficient and effective way to find online evidence against criminals, especially when cases are brought before the courts of justice. This is because in the past, data has been erased and this made it difficult to track down the suspects (Eur-Lex, 2020). Therefore, the Commission plans to look for technical, operational and legal solutions on how to avert this issue while continuing to make use of AI and big data.
3. Protecting Europeans from terrorism and organized crime
The European Commission will be implementing the Counter Terrorism Agenda for the EU. This agenda consists of different plans and methods to protect member states and citizens from terrorism and is administered under the following four pillars: anticipation, prevention, protection, and response.
It also aims to increase public and private partnerships between security providers. This is because the police cannot be placed everywhere but together with private security companies, the scope and area of surveillance will be increased. It also aims to foster relationships with the public so that there can be a smooth relay of information to the authorities in the event of an urgent matter or crisis.
4. A future-proof security environment A strong European security ecosystem
The European Commission plans to work together with law officers, citizens, private entities, and governments to ensure maximum security. One of the ways of doing this will be by strengthening security research and creating the European Innovation hub.
As defined by the European Commission, Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) will help to ensure that every company, small or large, high-tech or not, will take advantage of digital opportunities (Chage2Twin, n.d.). Therefore, these hubs will serve the purpose of delivering common solutions to shared security challenges and opportunities that member states will not be able to do by themselves (Eur-Lex, 2020).
The image below gives a brief overview of how cooperation in the digital hubs will be effective for creating security change and progress. They will provide increased information sharing that is timely and instant.
Figure 3
What is a Digital Innovation Hub?
Note: This image has been retrieved from Change2Twin (n.d.).
Building a strong European security ecosystem will also involve improving the skills of law enforcement and citizens through the European Skills Agenda, a 5-year plan outlining how citizens can learn and improve their skills. This will help citizens to embrace new opportunities so that together, Europe can continue to evolve and achieve its security goals.
Threats to the EU Security Union Strategy
The security strategy is brilliant and I believe will be effective once it has been implemented. Unfortunately, I think there are some issues it fails to address that might become a threat to its success. I believe it fails to address some critical questions that relate to the everyday person such as:
How can we protect women from Africa who are falling prey to online job ads that lead them to the EU only to find that they are forced to work in brothels and are being sold as prostitutes?
How can we protect EU citizens from identity fraud, where people are stealing their identities and personal information and making large tractions of money online in their names?
These are the kind of everyday questions that the security strategy needs to highlight. They need to develop more tangible and actionable solutions that can be implemented by the everyday person because in my opinion, several of the solutions and actionable steps highlighted in the security strategy focus more on policy makers.
Another important aspect that I believe will threaten the success of the security strategy is the limited number of multilingual security experts. It will be good for the European Commission to consider the provision of extensive language training, especially for people in security based positions.
According to an article written by Dyregrov, A et al. (2019),”The use of translators becomes a necessity when different nationalities are present. Planning how to deal with different languages must be part of every disaster plan.”
Therefore, even in security strategy planning, I would highly advocate for advanced language training for security officials to keep an eye out and to help casualties in languages that they understand.
Closing Remarks
In conclusion, I believe the European Union is on the right track, headed towards a more secure and safe Union. It will require an open mind, because with technology and the ever evolving nature of cyber-attacks, yesterday’s way of thinking may not prove to be the solution.
And most importantly, I’d encourage the European Commission to try to make sure that the security strategy is laid out in simple terms so that the everyday person knows what to do, how to stay alert, and how to detect people of suspicion, etc. Otherwise, I believe the EU Security Union Strategy is the solution to the future, and I’m proud of its existence.
References
Change2Twin. (n.d.). What is a Digital Innovation Hub https://www.change2twin.eu/dih/whatis-dih/
Consilium. (2021, December 20). Infographic - Top cyber threats in the EU. European Council & Council of the European Union. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/cyber-threats-eu/
Digital Strategy - European Commission (2021, June 23). Joint Cyber Unit. European Commission. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/joint-cyber-unit
Dyregrov, A et al. (2019, December 20). Learning from a decade of terror in European cities: Immediate, intermediate, and long-term follow-up. Psykologisk https://psykologisk.no/sp/2019/12/e10/
European Commission. (n.d.). European Security Union. https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/promoting-our-european-way-life/european-security-union_en
Eur-Lex. (2020, July 24). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The European Council, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and The Committee of the Regions on the EU Security Union Strategy. European Commission. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0605&from=EN
Krastev, I. & Leonard, M. (2022, February 9). The crisis of European security: What Europeans think about the war in Ukraine. European Council on Foreign Relations. https://ecfr.eu/publication/the-crisis-of-european-security-what-europeans-think-about-the-war-in-ukraine/
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