Challenges for building the EU common cybersecurity policy

Abstract

The article analyzes the most complex and topical problems of ensuring cybersecurity in the EU countries and of forming a common policy in this field. The authors consider the general political and economic factors that make the cybersecurity problems challenging at the national, supranational and global levels. The German case shows that in several developed EU member countries, national cybersecurity policy proves to be more efficient than a supranational one. The authors conclude that the German approach to ensuring cybersecurity is characterized by its complex and fundamental nature. It comprises a whole system of normative acts, plans and institutions. The article outlines the key approaches, trends and contradictions related to developing a common EU cybersecurity strategy. The authors analyze the main documents and actionsof the European Commission and other EU bodies in this field, including theCybersecurity Strategy of the European Union (2013), the EU Directive on the Security of Networks and Information Systems (2016), and the General Data Protection Regulation (2018). At the same time, the authors show that the EU governing bodies’ activity in the field of cybersecurity is faced with the inability of several member countries to comply with all the directives, orders, regulations and other normative acts. The authors define the major impediments to the implementation of the common EU cybersecurity policy: different levels of economic, technological and social development of its member countries; the mismatch between the interests of different political actors; different approaches of individual EU states to regulating cyberspace; the complexity of cybersecurity policy coordination between the EU member countries. The authors conclude that the obstacles primarily flow from the underdevelopment of the EU common political space. At the same time, cybersecurity problems are likely to contribute to a more accelerated and effective formation of such a space at the supranational level. Furthermore, the authors consider that some of the stepstaken by the EU to ensure cybersecurity, properly adapted and adjusted, could be useful for the Russian Federation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2018-3-5-18