F.Accordino EU COM – Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference

Slide 1:Strengthening EU's backbone connectivityBaltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, 27 May 2024Franco Accordino, Head of Unit B5 – Investment in High Capacity NetworksDG CONNECT, European CommissionSlide 2:EU vision for connectivity in the digital ecosystemBlurring of borders between traditionally separate segments - end-to-end integrated infrastructures and platforms (edge, cloud, HPC...)Bundling connectivity with innovative use-cases, stimulus to EU digital supply, new business models, competitiveness of EU supplyEU digital sovereignty, trusted suppliers, post-quantum crypto, backbone connectivityInstrument to combine European and national, public and private fundsConnectivity infrastructure(Backbones, FttH, 5G/6G...)AIDataVirtualised infrastructures and platformsHPCCloudEdgeConnected Collaborative ComputingSlide 3:Investment gaps and funding programmesCEF– Digital (€2 billion)Connectivity in MFF 2021-27InvestEUERDFNext Generation EU Recovery and Resilience FacilityMS own investmentsPrivate investmentsEAFRDNDICI-Global EuropeInvestment Modes (e.g. Grants, Blending, Financial Instruments,...)State AidState AidState Aid40b€ public fund (23.5b from EU and 16b from National)Slide 4:Connecting Europe Facility - CEF DIGITAL(Regulation EU 2021/1153)Connectivity of Socio-Economic Drivers (schools, hospitals...)Free Wi-Fi in centers of local public lifeInvestments addressing a certain degree of market failure or target areas where suboptimal investments are observedSlide 5:Backbone connectivity for the EU – Submarine cablesStrengthen intra-Union links and connections to 3rd countriesSynergy with NDICI, IPA III, ERDFBlending operations and financial instrumentsEU ownership and EU controllership of supplyState of the art technology (SMART cables)Objective: building a smart, performant and resilient EU backbone infrastructure, ensure EU sovereignty on critical EU assets, reinforce EU footprint in the global contextSlide 6:Walking the talk: Digital Global Gateways - Calls 1 & 231 Projects€ 311 millionWide coverageOMRs & OCTsCall 3: 90 M€WP2024-27: ?Slide 7:Pillar III: Creating secure and resilient digital infrastructures for EuropeOn submarine cable infrastructures:Reinforcement of advanced R&I activities for new fibre and cable technologiesJoint EU governance system on submarine cable infrastructuresHarmonised security requirements in international fora, potentially dedicated EU certification schemeDelegated Act under the Connecting Europe Facility on CPEI list and related labelling systemReview of available funding and financing instruments, incl. possible equity fund11 April 2024: Recommendation on Post-Quantum Cryptography7White Paper - How to master Europe’s digital infrastructure needs? (3)Slide 8:8Scope:Intra-EU and international connectivityCables but also landing stations, repair centres, ships for deployment, maintenance and repairNational level actions:Promoting high security level (incl. info requests to operators) when transposing NIS 2 and CER DirectivesMapping and risk, vulnerability, dependency assessments, stress testsFast-track permit granting for planning, acquisition, construction, operation, maintenance and repairUnion level actions:Consolidated mapping and risk, vulnerability, dependency assessments (building on national level)Cable Security Toolbox of mitigating measuresCriteria for Cable Projects of European Interest (CPEIs) as potential mitigation measure (to be prioritised in public funding from pooled EU and national sources)Coordinated Team Europe approach towards third countries and international organisations (e.g., NATO, G7, ITU)Follow-up: Expert Group, coordinating with existing work streamsCommission Recommendation on Secure & Resilient Submarine Cable InfrastructuresSlide 9:9Recommendation: Establishment of the Expert Group and invitations to appoint Member State representativesWhite Paper: Public feed-back period on the scenarios until 30 June 2024Next stepsSlide 10:THANKS