Estonia to join 8 other EU nations in rapid cyber response force initiative
Estonia, together with eight other EU member states, has committed to creating a rapid cyber response force.
The announcement was made today, Thursday, in Vilnius, Lithuania, by the Lithuanian Defence Minister Raimundas Karoblis.
As well as Estonia and Lithuania, Croatia, the Netherlands and Romania are due to sign the agreement in Luxembourg on Monday, with France, Spain, Poland and Finland officially joining by the end of 2018.
Four other countries - Belgium, Greece, Slovenia and Germany - are participating in the project as observers.
"The aim is to create EU rapid cyber response teams rotating on a semi-annual basis," Mr. Karoblis said.
He also detailed how utilising EU budget funds to purchase hardware and software for the project will be discussed with the relevant EU bodies.
A rotating schedule for the force is planned to be approved next year, though Lithuania will include a prototype European force in its national drills as early as this year, Mr. Karoblis said.
The planned cyber force is one of the first projects coming to fruition as discussed under last year's agreement on closer defence cooperation in the EU.
Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: BNS
