Adoption of measures aimed at developing EU citizens’ digital skills

Subject: Adoption of measures aimed at developing EU citizens’ digital skills

According to European Council data, the key economic sectors of the European economy are increasingly linked to digitalisation, leading to major innovations but also major risks.

Cybercrimes and cyber criminality are increasing, the form of attack is diversifying and citizens, businesses and industries alike are being targeted.

For example, in 2022 alone, around 10 million Trojan virus downloads were recorded in Europe, allowing external access to devices and putting sensitive data and information at risk of theft.

In view of this, can the Commission answer the following questions:

1. How does it intend to address the problem of rising cases of cyber criminality in the EU?

2. Does it intend to support Member States in training campaigns for EU citizens aimed at developing skills to encourage a more ethical and secure use of the web?

Submitted:21.4.2024

Answer given by Mr Breton on behalf of the European Commission

(20 June 2024)

Cybercrime is one area of evolving threats identified in the 2020 EU Security Union Strateg y (1) and a global challenge where effective international cooperation is necessary. The EU has adopted legislative and non-legislative measures to boost cooperation at EU and international level.

The EU supports the Council of Europe’s Budapest Convention on cybercrime (2), an effective framework allowing countries to identify systems and communication channels needed to work effectively together.

The Commission, together with the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), promotes cooperation instruments such as EMPACT (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats) and the J-CAT (the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce), key to fight cybercrime.

Moreover, in line with the 2020 EU Cybersecurity Strategy (3), the EU is enhancing resilience of its institutions and Member States and is raising cybersecurity awareness to prevent and mitigate malicious cyber activities. It supports the European Cybersecurity Month at national and EU level.

The Commission’s Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 (4) and the Digital Competence Framework (DigComp) (5) promote cybersecurity awareness and literacy. Finally, the Cybersecurity Skills Academy (6) aims at coordinating existing initiatives to close the talent gap across EU.

In 2024 the Commission dedicated EUR 10 million to support projects on training programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and public sector, which brings the total amount invested since 2021 in cyber skills together with Member States and industry to around EUR 600 million.

1 ∙ ⸱ COM(2020) 605.

2 ∙ ⸱ https://rm.coe.int/1680081561

3 ∙ ⸱ Joint Communication to the European Parliament and the Council — The EU's Cybersecurity Strategy for the Digital Decade, JOIN/2020/18 final, 16.12.2020.

4 ∙ ⸱ https://education.ec.europa.eu/focus-topics/digital-education/action-plan

5 ∙ ⸱ https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=10193&furtherNews=yes

6 ∙ ⸱ https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/cybersecurity-skills-academy