Ensuring Cybersecurity within the Framework of Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union

The article analyses the mechanisms EU uses to guarantee cybersecurity within its Common Foreign and Security Policy. The complex institutional structure of the EU, along with the specific status of the Common Foreign and Security Policy within it, and the lack of competence, make it difficult, if not impossible, for the EU to become a coherent actor in the field of cybersecurity. Nevertheless, in recent years, the EU has shown an increasing need and desire to regulate this area, which was initially justified mainly on the basis of economic motives and protection of the digital single market, but it is becoming increasingly evident that a high level of cybersecurity is inseparable from the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms. This article offers the overview of the evolution of the EU action in the field of cybersecurity – from the first attempts to regulate cybercrime to the EU cybersecurity package presented by the Commission in 2017 with a particular emphasis on the strategic priorities and actions set out in the Cybersecurity Strategy of the European Union.

Keywords: cybersecurity, Common Foreign and Security Policy, Common Security and Defence Policy, Cybersecurity Strategy of the European Union, cybercrime, NIS Directive.