The European Council also endorsed the list of 17 collaborative defense projects. Lithuania will manage the project on the establishment of Cyber Rapid Response Teams. The President tabled the initiative to establish the teams in Tallinn a few months ago.
According to Dalia Grybauskaitė, hybrid warfare poses threat that is as real as that of the conventional war. In recent years, a number of attempts to use cyber-attacks for affecting the outcomes of democratic elections in other states were brought to light in Europe and the West. In the last year alone, Lithuania registered over 50 thousand cyber-attacks while four thousand attacks per day on the average were registered on the EU scale.
This demonstrates cross-border nature of cyber-threats. Single states’ efforts are insufficient – collective European efforts are needed to that effect. Lithuania has accumulated an abundant and valuable experience in this area. According to the President, cyber warfare scenarios are first tested in our region; therefore, Lithuania’s expertise and worked out tools for countering cyber threats are useful for ensuring a pan-European security.
Lithuania will also take part in the joint EU defense project on improving military mobility aimed at rapid and smooth movement of troops and munition within the territory of the EU. It is very important for Allied support to arrive quickly to Lithuania, if the need arises. Existing bureaucratic restrictions and inappropriate infrastructure, such as roads and bridges that cannot accommodate large numbers of troops and equipment may be an obstacle.
EU leaders also discussed EU-NATO cooperation with NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg who attended the European Council meeting.
