Seventh progress report towards an effective and genuine Security Union

This is the seventh monthly report on the progress made towards building an effective and genuine Security Union and covers developments under two main pillars: tackling terrorism and organised crime and the means that support them; and strengthening our defences and building resilience against those threats.

This report focuses on the work towards the interoperability of information systems for security, border and migration management to make data management in the EU more effective and efficient, in full respect of data protection requirements, to better protect the external borders and enhance internal security for the benefit of all citizens. This report also provides an update on progress made on key legislative and non-legislative files.

The recent global cyberattack using ransomware to disable thousands of computer systems has again highlighted the urgent need to step up the EU's cyber resilience and security actions given the rapidly growing increase in cyber-enabled organised crime, as set out in the last Security Union progress report and highlighted in Europol's Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment. The Commission is accelerating its work on cybersecurity, in particular through its review of the 2013 EU Cybersecurity Strategy as announced in the Digital Single Market mid-term review, to provide a current and effective response to address these threats.

President Juncker's State of the Union address in September 2016 and the European Council conclusions of December 2016 highlighted the importance of overcoming the current shortcomings in data management and of improving the interoperability of existing information systems. Recent terrorist attacks have brought this into even sharper focus, highlighting the urgent need for information systems to be interoperable, and to eliminate the current blind spots where terrorist suspects can be recorded in different, unconnected databases under different aliases.

This report sets out the Commission's approach on how to achieve the interoperability of information systems for security, border and migration management by 2020 to ensure that border guards, law enforcement officers including customs officials, immigration officials and judicial authorities have the necessary information at their disposal. This is a follow up to the April 2016 Commission Communication on stronger and smarter information systems for borders and security and the work of the High-Level Expert Group on Information Systems and Interoperability that the Commission set up following that Communication.

ESO: European Agenda on Security: Commission sets out new approach on interoperability of information systems [European Commission: Press Release, 16.05.17] http://www.europeansources.info/record/european-agenda-on-security-commission-sets-out-new-approach-on-interoperability-of-information-systems/

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