Home affairs ministers will discuss enhancing the resilience of critical entities providing essential services 

Informal video conference of home affairs ministers on Friday 12 March. Finland will be represented at the meeting by State Secretary Olli-Poika Parviainen. At their meeting, ministers will hold a policy debate on the proposal for a directive to enhance the resilience of critical entities.

In addition, the agenda includes e.g. cooperation between the EU and certain North African countries.  The Portuguese Presidency of the EU will update ministers on the state of play with regard to the migration on asylum pact and ministers will discuss the next steps on enhancing cooperation on return and readmission with third countries.

The physical and digital resilience of critical entities must be enhanced

The new EU directive on the resilience of critical entities aims to help strengthen the level of protection and resilience of infrastructures that provide fundamental services for social or economic activities. The Government tentatively welcomes the proposal for a directive.

-The changing security environment and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have shown the need for more cooperation on preparedness and contingency planning within the Union. For example, actors critical to the functioning of societies need to be specified and identified through harmonised procedures. It is particularly important that the physical and digital resilience of these entities is strengthened in the EU and in the Member States. This will also improve the EU's and member states' preparedness for hybrid threats, Parviainen says.

The Comission proposal would cover ten sectors. Sectors include transport, energy, banking, financial market infrastructures, health, drinking water, waste water, digital infrastructure, public administration and space.

The Presidency initiative aims to intensify the EU-North Africa dialogue

Ministers will also exchange views on enhancing cooperation between the EU and North African countries, on the basis of a Presidency proposal to launch a political dialogue on justice and home affairs with countries in the region. The initiative focuses on enhancing existing operational cooperation with North African countries.

-Finland supports the goal of closer cooperation between the EU and North Africa. With such a dialogue, we can promote EU values such as respect for human rights and gender equality, State Secretary Parviainen says.

The Portuguese Presidency aims to adopt, on the basis of its initiative, a joint ministerial declaration defining the elements of the dialogue between the EU and North African countries in the field of justice and home affairs and setting out a roadmap for progress.

For more information, please contact:
Laura Yli-Vakkuri, Director General, tel. +358 40 720 22 16, laura.yli-vakkuri@intermin.fi 
Olli-Poika Parviainen, State Secretary, tel. +358 50 477 85 20, olli-poika.parviainen@intermin.fi