Will European Cybersecurity Policy Deliver Strategic Autonomy and Cyber Sovereignty?

This presentation by Paul Timmers and debate with James Morrison will investigate whether EU cybersecurity policy provides an effective response to the growing call for strengthening sovereignty. The debate on sovereignty is heating up across the world, nationally and certainly also in Europe. The recent State of the Union of President Juncker of the European Commission carried the headline “The Hour of European Sovereignty.” Sovereignty is threatened by a confluence of increasing international tensions, growing dependency on digital technologies, and mounting cyber-threats and cybercrime. State and non-state actors threaten the traditional system of states. As Lucas Kello says: there is a "sovereignty gap."

 

Dr Paul Timmers is the former Director at the European Commission for Digital Society, Trust and Cybersecurity, where he was responsible for EU cyber legislation such as the NIS Directive and investment in research and innovation. He is also a senior advisor to the European Policy Center, a thinktank based in Brussels, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs.

 

James Morrison CMG is the Head of the Cabinet of European Commissioner for Security Union Sir Julian King. Prior to this, from November 2014, he was Policy Director in the Secretariat-General of the European Commission.