Page 32 - ID - Informazioni della Difesa n. 05-2024 - Supplemento

MARCH 2024
#EUDefence
#StrategicCompass

COUNTERING HYBRID THREATS

The increased use of hybrid strategies and operations by state and non-state actors poses a threat to security and shared
democratic values of the EU Member States and our partner countries. These threats include, for instance, information
manipulation, cyber-attacks, lawfare, economic coercion, and the instrumentalisation of migrants.
THE EU’S APPROACH TO COUNTERING HYBRID THREATS
While countering hybrid threats is primarily a national responsibility, the EU facilitates Member States’ cooperation,
develops policy solutions and encourages sharing best practices. The EU’s policy framework on countering hybrid
threats contains two major documents: the 2016 Joint Framework on Countering Hybrid Threats and the 2018 Joint
Communication on increasing resilience and bolstering capabilities to address hybrid threats.
The EU counter-hybrid threats policy is based on four lines of action:

Situational awareness Resilience Response Cooperation
Ensuring that Member Making the EU and its Using the full range of EU Working with international
States have a common partners better prepared tools to respond to hybrid partners and organisations,
understanding of the to prevent, withstand and attacks from diplomatic as well as with civil societies,
challenges affecting the EU, recover from hybrid attacks, and restrictive measures, to improve our responses
as basis for taking targeted including through CSDP to CSDP missions and crisis and resilience against hybrid
action. missions. response mechanisms. threats.
As agreed in the Strategic Compass for Security and Defence, an EU hybrid toolbox was established in 2022. It comprises
preventive, cooperative, stability-building, restrictive and support measures.
The purpose of the toolbox is to help
• identify complex and multifaceted hybrid campaigns,
• coordinate tailor-made and cross-sectoral responses to them.
Acting as an overall framework, it brings together other relevant response mechanisms and instruments, such as the
cyber diplomacy toolbox and the foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) toolbox. It improves the
effectiveness and coherence of various actions, and therefore brings added value to the EU’s capabilities in responding to
hybrid threats.
EU Hybrid Rapid Response Teams
The EU is creating teams drawing from sectoral national and EU civilian and military expertise to support Member States,
CSDP missions and operations and partner countries to counter hybrid threats.

EU-NATO COOPERATION HYBRID RISK SURVEYS TO PARTNERS

• 20 out of the 74 common proposals for cooperation • The surveys help identify the gaps and vulnerabilities of
are related to countering hybrid threats (e.g. enhancing partner countries, prepare recommendations and consider
resilience, situational awareness and countering support measures based on these.
disinformation). • The Hybrid Risk Survey carried out with Moldova in 2022
• Structured Dialogue on Resilience and the well- served as basis for the launch of the EU Partnership
established cooperation on resilience since 2022. Mission, deployed to support Moldova counter hybrid
• EU-NATO Task Force on Resilience of Critical Infrastructure threats.
launched in 2023 to focuses on four key areas: transport,
energy, space and digital infrastructure.

30