Enhancing EU-NATO Collaboration for Security

Today I’m sharing my notes from the European Policy Centre (EPC) panel discussion event that took place on January 14 2025 on EU-NATO collaboration. Very insightful and timely discussion as NATO Secretary General Mark Rute co-hosted a summit on the same day in Helsinki, along with President Alexander Stubb of Finland and Prime Minister Kristen Michael of Estonia.[1] The summit took place in light of disruptions to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea this past December.[2]

Comprehensive security best practices: How can EU and NATO work better together?

• The global environment is becoming increasingly challenging. There is a strong sense that the EU-Atlantic relationship is not at war, but it’s not at peace either. It’s not at peace not only in terms of military conflict but also because of strategic competition through the weaponization of everything.
• The new EU Commission mandate is focused on strengthening its security pillar. It’s a key part of the agenda for the next 5 years. A new commission has been created for Defense and Space.
• Societal preparedness is crucial to preserve peace, security, and freedom in a complex and unpredictable environment, and strengthening EU-NATO cooperation is one of the key ways to advance in this thinking.
• Concepts of civil defense, comprehensive security, and societal resilience are guiding the EU preparedness agenda. The Covid crisis showed that EU institutions can be reactive in challenging times.
• EU is facing threats from Russia that goes beyond Ukraine. Recent event on critical infrastructure in the Baltic sea, where undersea cables connecting Finland and Estonia were damaged, has shown that EU security threats are escalating to new fronts and evolving rapidly.[3] It also signals vulnerabilities in EU critical infrastructure.
• Trump administration demanding that the EU spends more on security. EU also needs to do more for hybrid attacks, border security, migration and asylum.
• The EU is also working on the resilience and function of its democratic system with the EU Democracy Shield programme, which addresses issues that can attack its democracy such as misinformation.
• The EU is prepared for different contingencies, but with legacy systems and operational models. The world today requires enhanced preparedness, operating with systems that need to be constantly updated. The environment is different – geopolitics, climate, technology – so strategies need to evolve constantly.
• EU collaboration is key for real preparedness. It needs exercises at the EU level to see resilience in practice such as the example shown by Ukraine. In the beginning of the war, Ukraine was expected to stand the attacks for only 10 days, but it’s been 3 years, and they are still holding.

What should we be ready for? How can civil society be ready?

• EU needs to switch mindset from a peace-time regulation mode to an operational mode.
• Important initiatives need to be mapped out: Union Civil Protection Mechanism[4], Parallel and Coordinated Exercises (PACE)[5], EU legislations that help boost infrastructure security and NATO initiatives such as the NIS2 Directive[6]. There is also the need to share expertise and draw on lessons from Ukraine.
• Mapping of availability of critical value chains and materials, possible disruptions and impact scenarios.
• The EU needs to speed up its military industry. It has been reported that defense production in the EU is lower than the in Russia.
• The EU also needs contingency plans for industry and businesses. Businesses need to be prepared to re-orient their services and production lines for the defense industry. They also need to make sure that civilian infrastructure is secure and resilient. The military will need that infrastructure to operate in times of conflict. This requires a collective commitment by having private sector and commercial operators actively involved in preparedness.
• Most EU countries are small and currently operating on the assumption that trade and supply chain is working. How to prepare for a situation where borders are closed and the supply chain is not working?
• Stockpiling for food, medicine, medical equipment, generators to keep equipments working. However, this is a short-term solution to the availability of critical materials. The EU needs to think of how to be prepared for long-term situations. What operations need to be put in place in these cases?
• How do we raise risk awareness? How to make society aware of the security issue to enter a mindset of preparedness without creating fear? Informing citizens about security preparedness and resilience needs to be a reflection of current times.
• To get civil society to a mindset that is prepared to defend their country requires a lot of cohesion within society. The integrity of the information space is crucial.
• The message needs to be that we’re not at war, but we’re not at peace either. This is better than sending a message that we need to be ready for war. It’s important to create a balance between risk awareness and sense of security so that it doesn’t create panic. We’ve had many emergency situations in the past decades – tsunamis, terrorism, wildfires, pandemic, etc. – so promoting the concept of crisis preparedness should put EU citizens in a better situation.
• The EU also needs to help citizens prepare at the individual level and at the level of local communities. It’s important that citizens are able to provide for themselves in times of critical disruptions. People need to stockpile, have cash at home, generators, fuel reserves and have mobility documentation ready such as passport and visas.

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[1] NATO launches ‘Baltic Sentry’ to increase critical infrastructure security. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_232122.htm

[2] Finland-Estonia power cable hit in latest Baltic Sea incident. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/25/finland-estonia-power-cable-hit-in-latest-baltic-sea-incident

[3] NATO to enhance military presence in the Baltic Sea. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_231800.htm

[4] https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/what/civil-protection/eu-civil-protection-mechanism_en

[5] EU Civil Protection Mechanism. https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/eu-integrated-resolve-2022-eu-ir22-parallel-and-coordinated-exercisespace_en

[6] The NIS2 Directive: A high common level of cybersecurity in the EU. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/de/document/EPRS_BRI(2021)689333