The EU is stepping up its support to Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia to fend off increasing levels of threats in the cyberspace with a new €1.8 million support package announced today by High Representative/ Vice-President Josep Borrell ahead of the EU-Western Balkans Summit.

High Representative Borrell said: “ With this “Rapid Response” assistance to counter cybersecurity threats, we will help our Western Balkan partners increase their immediate operational capacity to detect, prevent and repel attacks against their digital infrastructures and systems. This is part of our intensified efforts to support building up their resilience and their security and defence capacities through all tools we have and with it promote peace and stability on our continent.” 

As “hacktivism” continues to pose a threat of malicious cyber activities against digital infrastructure, including government networks, this package aims more specifically at empowering partner governments to manage the immediate risks of cyber incidents, assess their impact on government networks and critical service provision, and collect and share data to help understand and better respond to attacks. It also fosters Western Balkan partners’ coordination in response to cybersecurity incidents and crises at national level and with each other, as well as with the EU and its Member States.  

The action complements previous support to Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia, amounting to €2.6 million  following a sharp heightening of the risk of cyberthreats against countries aligned with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy including with the EU restrictive measures following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. While addressing a challenge common to all of them, the EU support will respond to the specific domestic needs of each partner country. 

This “Rapid Response” assistance also comes in addition to the ongoing €5 million regional cybersecurity programme provided by the European Commission to all six Western Balkan partners to improve cybersecurity prevention, preparedness, and response of relevant public and private stakeholders.