EU Symposium on ‘Command and Control: a Strategic Compass Critical Enabler’ under the auspices of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU
The EU Symposium on ‘Command and Control: a Strategic Compass Critical Enabler’, held under the auspices of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU (EU2023ES), took place from 28 to 29 November 2023 at the European Defence Agency (EDA) in Brussels.
The European Security and Defence College (ESDC), represented by its coordinator for cyber issues and for the ESDC Cyber ETEE Platform, was invited as part of the third panel on ‘Cyber in the EU Operational Landscape’, at which a presentation was given on the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) cyber training landscape and the unique role of the ESDC in supporting training initiatives connected to CSDP missions and operations.
Over the course of two full days, military and civilian experts from the Member States, EU institutions, agencies, bodies and services, NATO and industry presented their views on how to improve EU capabilities in order to strengthen European defence.
Further emphasis was placed on the ESDC activities and trainings priority on cyber in connection with: the EU Strategic Compass; EU policy on cyber defence; the European Cybersecurity Skills Framework (ECSF) of ENISA; the Cybersecurity Skills Academy; the EU’s Cybersecurity Strategy for the New Decade; cooperation with NATO; and the capacity for external action with the Eastern Partnership, Western Balkans, Indo-Pacific and MENA countries.
Moreover, this EU Symposium provided an update on the progress of CSDP command and control projects and explored forward-looking topics such multi-domain command and control, the digitalisation of EU defence, and collaborative opportunities in developing ‘information superiority’ capabilities.
Many collaboration frameworks – including PESCO projects, the European Defence Fund (EDF) and the activities and programmes of the EDA – are currently developing a variety of projects and initiatives in this field. Each of them aims to ensure the security of the cyber domain and obtain the necessary command and control skills.