EU-HYBNET participates in the ‘Responding to hybrid threats in the Mediterranean and Black Sea region’ Workshop

Come and meet us at the Workshop on ‘Responding to hybrid threats in the Mediterranean and Black Sea region’ Workshop. The event takes place online from 14th until 16th of December from 13.00 to 16.00 CET.

The purpose of the workshop is to contribute to the development of resilience against hybrid threats at a regional level within the member states and among its influencers and opinion formers. Hybrid threats erode the political cohesion of the alliance and its partners and are a part of the current EU, NATO, and the partner’s security landscape.
The primary objective is to examine a synchronization toolkit on resilience mechanisms between the EU, NATO, and regional authorities and to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy process from a central level down to regional levels among the target audience and to give guidelines in how to improve the process.

What we find today is that a state can reach the parts of another state’s triangle of war fighting capability much easier. It is simplified to say that it is about the Internet, but it is also true that the Internet facilitates a host of opportunities, good and bad when it comes to communicating with a population. Meddling in internal affairs disrupt the Western narrative of globalization, rule of law, democracy, and interconnectivity. Hybrid warfare as part of a wider information operation provides a problem partly by its content; partly by its due to attribution questions and the potential for deniability by the perpetrator.
Best practices analysis will fill knowledge gaps in addressing hybrid threats. The development of a resilience toolkit applicable at a regional level will lead towards a change of attitude vis-à-vis hybrid threats and to an improved EU-NATO- regional authorities synchronized effort in countering hybrid threats.

The wokshop is co-organised by EU-HYBNET partner Universidad Rey Juan Carlos along with Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Mid Sweden University and Ciberimaginario. The first day of the event (14th of December 2021), keynote speeches will be delivered to the audience. EU-HYBNET coordinator Päivi Mattila (Laurea) will present the project’s experience in building pan-European network to counter hybrid threats.