A New Approach To The European Programme For Critical Infrastructure Protection

Critical infrastructure protection is the only way of ensuring the continuity of critical services in the society. A European critical infrastructure means “an asset, a system or part of it, located on the territory of the Member States, which is essential for the maintenance of vital societal functions, health, safety, security, economic or social well-being of people, and the disruption or destruction of which would have a significant impact in a Member State as a result of the failure to maintain those functions [1].”

To ensure a high level of protection of the European critical infrastructures and by increasing their resilience (against all of the threats and hazards) the consequences of the loss of services of the society as a whole can be reduced. At the same time, these are the objectives of the Stockholm Program [2] and of the National Security Strategy of the European Union [3].