Europe in alert

The European Commission presented, this week, Protecteu, a new internal security strategy. It’s ambitious, it’s urgent – and it may well be the last opportunity to protect Europe from threats that are no longer invisible.

Organized Crime -Trafficking in Arms and Drugs, Child Sexual Abuse Online -Terrorism -from religious extremism, lonely wolves to online radicalization; -and sabotage -such as attacks on critical infrastructures or cyber espionage -have ceased to be remote risks. They are real, daily threats that run the security of our citizens and undermine the foundations of European democracies. The list grows every day. And the speed to which they evolve widely surpasses our response capacity.

Today, criminals no longer wear masks. They use algorithms. Exchange weapons for keyboards. Global networks with artificial intelligence to produce and spread content of child abuse. They paralyze hospitals with ransomware. They steal millions in seconds. And do so from anywhere on the planet.

Europol is clear: 21st century crime and terrorism are transnational and highly profitable. And we are late. While criminals exchange data in real time, European authorities are often stuck to bureaucracies that delay – or prevent – sharing vital information. Criminals do not fill forms to cross borders. But our security forces still need to do so to access data that can prevent attacks, dismantle networks or save lives. If enemies communicate faster than us, then we are losing this battle before we even start.

At the same time, powers such as China and Russia develop military capabilities to silently but devastate, the most critical infrastructures in Europe. The threat to submarine cables – where 95% of global information circulates – is real and present. Beijing already has technology capable of cutting shielded cables at 4,000 meters deep. We are facing a new type of conflict: invisible, asymmetrical, digital. And we continue to face it with outdated tools and obsolete processes.

ProtecTeu has a robust plan, with right priorities:
Anticipate threats through effective mechanisms of intelligence sharing between member states; National security systems have to function as one. Fragmentation is vulnerability. There is no justification – technical or political – to maintain networks that do not communicate with each other, while criminals already operate on a net, without borders;
Reinforce the mandate and means of European agencies of justice and internal affairs – such as Europol, Frontex, Eurojust;

Strengthen resilience against hybrid threats such as sabotage, misinformation and attacks on critical infrastructure;
Combat organized crime with a common European definition and financial instruments to lock the illicit flows that feed it;
Prevent radicalization and fight violent extremism, with special attention to digital space.

But good intentions are not enough. Without immediate structural changes, this strategy risk being just another beautiful document, sentenced to the drawer. Internal security is definitely no longer an isolated national issue; It is an absolute political priority and an essential condition for preserving the freedoms that define the European project. The CDS, in the European Parliament, has been an active and determined voice, repeatedly warning of the need for an effective internal security strategy. Europe has the means, knowledge and legitimacy – now lack political courage to act.

MEP CDS